[OPEN-ILS-DEV] NCIP

[Scott McKellar]

Concerning compatility with the GNU GPL,see the following, referring
to the X11 License:

<FSF>
    This is a simple, permissive non-copyleft free software license,
compatible with the GNU GPL. Older versions of XFree86 used the same
license, and some of the current variants of XFree86 also do. Later
versions of XFree86 are distributed under the XFree86 1.1 license.

    This license is sometimes called the MIT license, but that term is
misleading, since MIT has used many licenses for software.
</FSF>

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#GPLCompatibleLicenses

So the FSF considers the X11 License GPL-compatible, and notes that
it is sometimes referred to as the MIT License, with some ambiguity.

The page above links to another page with the text of the X11 License.
The XC page links to the text of what they call the MIT License.  I
compared the text of the two licenses and found them to be identical,
with the following exceptions:

1. In the standard boilerplate disclaimer of warranty, the X11 license
refers specifically to "THE X CONSORTIUM" where the MIT License refers
more generically to "THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS".

2. The X11 license includes the following additional language:

<legalese>
Except as contained in this notice, the name of the X Consortium shall
not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or
other dealings in this Software without prior written authorization
from the X Consortium.
</legalese>

I would assume that, since the MIT License does not include that
verbiage, it is if anything less restrictive than the X11 license,
and is therefore equally compatible with the GPL.

Standard disclaimers apply: I am not a lawyer, and the foregoing should
not be construed as legal advice.

Scott McKellar

--- On Tue, 1/19/10, David Fiander <david at fiander.info> wrote:

> From: David Fiander <david at fiander.info>
> Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-DEV] NCIP
> To: "Evergreen Development Discussion List" <open-ils-dev at list.georgialibraries.org>
> Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2010, 10:43 AM
> Eric,
> 
> Thanks for pointing that out. That code is under an MIT
> source
> license, so somebody will have to figure out if that's
> compatible with
> the GNU license, and if we can adopt it.
> 
> - David
> 
> On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 11:37, Eric Lease Morgan
> <eric_morgan at infomotions.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> From: "Grant Johnson" <fgjohnson at upei.ca>
> >> Subject: [OPEN-ILS-DEV] NCIP
> >>
> >> Anyone working on connectivity to evergreen item
> status via the NCIP
> >> protocol?
> >
> >
> > The folks at the eXtensible Catalog (XC) may have
> something to offer:
> >
> >  http://code.google.com/p/xcnciptoolkit/
> >
> > --
> > Eric Lease Morgan
> >
> >
> >
>