Subject: IMPORTANT: version 0.5 of license

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 15:09:21 -0500

Although we've seen so many versions now of the MiscKit license
that you may be tempted to ignore "yet another iteration", version
0.5 of the license contains some significant changes.

IN PARTICULAR, if you have contributed something to the kit, or
are planning on doing so, or may decide to do so in the future,
Article 5 of version 0.5 significantly impacts your rights as
an author in relation to the MiscKit. Current authors should be
particularly concerned, as the proposed changes would affect
contributions made before this version of the license was
proposed.

Opinions on the license, charter, license notes, or other "top level"
documentation should be emailed to [email-masked].  I have
already sent my concerns and proposed suggestions to him about this.

Christopher J. Kane
[email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (Don Yacktman)
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 15:07:03 -0600

> Current authors should be

Yes, please look at the license, make comments, and be aware of
this fact.  But, ALSO, be aware that version 0.5, the one I just
put up, is nothing more than a PROPOSAL and is not in effect for
any software, so the current MiscKit remains under the LICENSE
found in it's distribution.  That's another reason I did not
re-release the kit itself with this license; some of the changes
are dramatic, and I won't make them without folks' agreement
on them.

As a side note, Chris has sent me a version of the LICENSE that
he has edited, call it 0.5a, which I am evaluating, and may
very well become version 0.6 tonight.  Since these changes
are very dramatic, you might wish to hold off on comments
until I put 0.6 out tonight, which I promise I will do.  Just
the same, this issue needs to be resolved as completely as
possible this week, as I do not wish to drag it out any
longer, and I don't think anyone on the list wants to hear
about it any more.  If you don't provide feedback, I am assuming
that you approve without any reservations, so if anything at
all bothers you about the license, it is imperative that you
say so.  You will note that the changes in each iteration
really do echo what is brough up here; I am trying to
accomodate as many people as possible.  (I realize that to a
certain degree this is impossible, but I am attempting to make
the set of those who approve be as large as possible.)

So, do look at 0.5, make comments on it, and, even more important,
look at 0.6 that will come out tonight and comment on that!

Finally, the biggest problem in here is guaranteeing that an
author cannot remove a contribution.  Note that the most they
can do is stop sending in enhancements; in which case the
object will then have branched in versions, with the MiscKit
version being a separate branch from whatever the author has.
If we can't guarantee this legally, then the MiscKit objects
will never be used:  Most people won't use an object that
could disappear out from under them at any time, especially
since most MiscKit objects could be written rather quickly by
an individual.  If this cannot be resolved, we might as well
require that the author transfer copyright and ALL rights to
the MiscKit, which will dampen submissions, but at least allow
the code to be re-used without fear... and I'd prefer to have
the author retain copyright and rights, for philosophical reasons.
If anyone with legal experience could provide me with a good
solution, I would really appreciate it.  To sum up:  If an
author can remove a submission in the future, then the MiscKit
is pointless, and we should just close up shop now.  Not a
pleasant thought at all.

Enough babble.

-don