[cc-community] by-nd for software

Rob Myers rob at robmyers.org
Sun Oct 21 06:40:44 EDT 2007


NikNot wrote:
> I am creating a "free software library" that I'd like to distribute
> under the following conditions:
> 
> 1) anybody can re-distribute the source code in unmodified form.

This would not meet the definition(s) of Free Software or Open Source as 
it does not allow modification.

It might meet the definition of "shared source".

> Is cc "by-nd" applicable for such distribution? If not, what other
> existing licensing model is more appropriate?

Once malicious parties have the source they will modify and compile it 
to compromise other systems that are using un-modified code. Licensing 
cannot stop this. Licensing is therefore not an effective defense 
against the code being compromised. And non-free licensing will 
discourage contributions of code patched to defend against malicious 
modified versions of the code.

For a non-Free, non-Open-Source software license that allows viewing 
source but not modification, there is Microsoft's Reference licence:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sharedsource/licensingbasics/referencelicense.mspx

To say that I do not recommend it is an understatement though. ;-)

- Rob.


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