Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Andrea Glorioso <sama AT miu-ft.org>]

I'm not a lawyer and I don't speak for CC.

>>>>> "Michael" == Michael Olson <mao AT sleepycat.com> writes:

    > Berkeley DB  is bundled with an enormous   number of open source
    > and free software packages  --  not least,   Linux -- and   that
    > ubiquity  is valuable to   the company.    It's crucial to   our
    > continued success  that we  make  it easy for the  free software
    > community to   bundle Berkeley DB with  other  software  that is
    > licensed under the GPL.

    > Berkeley DB is, of course, not very useful absent the
    > documentation.

    > We have recently received word from an informed party -- I would
    > not so far say that the person speaks authoritatively for the
    > FSF, but it's someone who's clueful on the issues and
    > understands the intricacies of GPL compatibility -- that the
    > A-SA license is incompatible with the GPL.

    > What this would mean, practically, is that GPL'ed software --
    > for example (again), Linux -- would not be able to bundle the
    > Berkeley DB documentation.  That would create an impediment to
    > use of Berkeley DB in Linux and on Linux.  Over time, it could
    > well result in reduced reliance on Berkeley DB in popular open
    > source packages.  That would be a bad outcome for Sleepycat.

I'm not sure I understand what the precise problem is.  In what sense
are you planning to "bundle" your documentation with anything else (I
very much doubt that you are going to bundle it with "Linux", since
"Linux" is just a kernel and is not usually distributed alone [0])?

As far as I know, if you include your documentation in  a CD, a DVD, a
tape, an ISO  image or whatever,  this doesn't at  all  reflect on the
compatibility with the GNU GPL.

The compatibility issues arise when you  link [1] your "NOT (GNU GPL)"
code  with (GNU   GPL) code.   If   you just   deliver  a  tarball  of
documentation and on the same CD  there is a tarball  of GNU GPL code,
no compatibility issues arise (as far as I know).

Maybe  I completely misunderstood the  problem  - if  that's the case,
please try to point me in the right direction.

Bye!

--
Andrea Glorioso             sama AT miu-ft.org         +39 333 820 5723
        .:: Media Innovation Unit - Firenze Tecnologia ::.
              Conquering the world for fun and profit

[0] I don't want  to be obnoxious here and  I'm not playing an "holier
    than  thou"  attitude,  but I  think   it would help   to  get the
    definitions straight before discussing the issue.

[1] Yes, it's actually more complicated than that, but I'm trying to
    keep things simple to begin.