Re: [PHP4BETA] License concerns

On Tue, 20 Jul 1999, Rasmus Lerdorf wrote: > > Btw I have another concern with the PHP4 licence itself: > > > > 4. The PHP Group reserves the right to modify the PHP license at > > any time and without prior notice, as long as the changes keep > > the free and open source nature of PHP. > > > > does this mean rectroactively changing the license of already distributed > > copies of the software ? If yes, then it may clash with the open source > > definition (I'm expecting comments here from people who know DFSG issues > > more than me), if not, then this paragraph is not needed, since the > > copyright holder can change the license anyway. > > This is not an attempt to be able to retroactively change the license. My > view of this is that once a piece of software has been released under a > certain license you can't go back and change it. This clause is an IIRC there were licences which allowed changing retroactively (more specifically, revoking the licence). They suck. > attempt to be able to make minor license tweaks without having to get > approval from every one of the hundreds of people that have contributed to > PHP. This is ok then. > The wording may not be appropriate though. Then please reword it more clearly :) You see I was confused... :( Greg