David -
> In other words, you want to have your cake and eat it too. You
> want for other people to give you patches -- for free! -- but you
> be able to sell licensing terms to the entire codebase.
Most of Vim I have made myself. And I decide which patches go in and
which don't. Thus I consider it right to be able to decide what happens
with the code. It's mostly my program.
If I might really make money from Vim, I will certainly consider
rewarding the people that helped in some way. However, I don't see that
happening (unfortunately!). Thus this is really a non-issue.
> I guess I won't be bothering to use your editor any time soon.
I suppose you don't use any software then. All GPL'ed software has an
implied rule that the sofware can also be sold without the GPL. This
only requires the permission from the author(s). The author always has
the right to change the license as he likes. The license doesn't
mention this, but it's true anyway. At least I'm honest enough to
mention it.
Of course it gets difficult to remove the GPL license if many people
wrote the software. I don't know how many lines someone must have
contributed for him to be requested for permission. Sending a small
patch for a bugfix won't count, but adding a feature will.
- Bram
--
GALAHAD turns back. We see from his POV the lovely ZOOT standing by him
smiling enchantingly and a number of equally delectable GIRLIES draped
around in the seductively poulticed room. They look at him smilingly and
wave.
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" PYTHON (MONTY) PICTURES LTD
/// Bram Moolenaar -- Bram@moolenaar.net -- http://www.moolenaar.net \\\
((( Creator of Vim -- http://vim.sf.net -- ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim )))
\\\ Help me helping AIDS orphans in Uganda - http://iccf-holland.org ///
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