Re: [PHP4BETA] php and MS SQL Server....

Hello Adam, On 05-Mar-00 22:48:01, you wrote: >> I never assumed that Open Source code can't be copyrighted. I am just >> answering the question regarding my software's license. It's free and >> by default I hold the copyright because I wrote it. >The issue is more complicated than that. What if I want to build a PHP >application and decide to use your DB abstraction layer as a component. Am >I then allowed to sell this piece of software? Can I only use it for Sure. I didn't develop Metabase to live from any sales it could generate (mine or others). I did it because I needed for my work. If others can benefit from it, great. If others can contribute to its development, better. >myself? Am I allowed to use it at all or just look at it? As we all know, >the definition of "free" isn't as simple as it appears. By providing an >explicit license for your code, this confusion can be avoided. As far as I understand, free means freely available. Like many other packages, Metabase was uploaded to the PHP Classes repository, that, like it is mentioned in the front page, it is meant to distribute freely available PHP code in form of classes of objects. This is what free code is all about to me. As for other levels of freedom, copyrights have to be respected. The author owns the copyrights. If you want to do more than just using, like redistributing either changed or unchanged versions of the code, charge money for the code, etc, you have to ask the author for permission. So, I got your point. To make it more explicit, a license text was uploaded to Metabase page in the PHP Classes site. >I suspect that's one of the reasons people want the PEAR code to be Open >Sourced. This way people know that they can use code they find there in >the same ways (or similar ones) that they can use PHP. I don't agree that packages should have to Open Sourced to be distributable by PEAR. Like myself, many developers would like to retain control over their packages regardless if someday they will make them Open Source. If Open Source is a requirement, I'm afraid that many developers simply won't contribute. Regards, Manuel Lemos Web Programming Components using PHP Classes. Look at: http://phpclasses.UpperDesign.com/?user=mlemos@acm.org -- E-mail: mlemos@acm.org URL: http://www.mlemos.e-na.net/ PGP key: http://www.mlemos.e-na.net/ManuelLemos.pgp --