[darcs-users] [OT] Larry McVoy on the Bitkeeper licence

[Thomas Zander]

On Tue, Feb 15, 2005 at 08:49:27AM -0500, David Roundy wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 15, 2005 at 02:40:33PM +0100, Erik Bgfors wrote:
> > On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 08:31:27 -0500, David Roundy
> > <droundy at abridgegame.org> wrote:
> > > On Tue, Feb 15, 2005 at 12:06:41AM +0100, Juliusz Chroboczek wrote:
> > > > > It's possible that we'll be changing the BK license [...]  What we
> > > > > would like to do is change the language to say that if you use BK
> > > > > you are agreeing that you won't work on another SCM for 1 year
> > > > > after you stop using BK. -- Larry McVoy, 13 February 2005
> > > 
> > > What I wonder about is whether submitting bug reports on darcs would
> > > count as "working on another SCM"...
> > 
> > I don't think so..  What he looks most affraid of is someone
> > copying/reverse enginering BK.
> 
> Right, but he seems to think that even providing the graph of the linux
> kernel repository would give away too much information about how BK works
> to competing developers.  It doesn't seem to be possible, for example, to
> develop a script that would convert directly from the BK kernel repository
> to a darcs repository using darcs.  Debugging such a script would reveal
> too much of BK's internal workings--at least that was what Larry has
> hinted.

What larry hints at is irrelevant; only what the licence you actually
accept says is relevant.
if you have to accept the BK licence to get data out of the server (you
don't if you figure out how to do so without his software) he has a point.
If otoh you don't have to agree to any licence, he can't make you do
anything.

> Of course, he's always *also* said that one could legally use BK itself to
> get data out of BK, but he just hasn't explained how one could legally do
> this.  I imagine one would have to do it without contacting me, lest one be
> tainted as a contributor to darcs.

Hehe; better avoid any license stuff thats not very very clear from the
beginning.
But I'm biased; I'm one of those that said no to the XP licence on my new
laptop and got out the linux installation CD :)

-- 
Thomas Zander
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