[Tux4kids-discuss] Licensing Information

[David Bruce]

Hi,

One thing is pretty clear, however - tuxmath has always been a GPL project,
>> and we don't have the legal standing to use the source except
>>
>
> Think the rest of your message got cut off? AFAIK, though, Deepak's
> project is a complete rewrite and isn't bound by existing source. I could
> be mistaken.


Yes, got cut off.

But the important point is that this is a re-write, so we can use a license
that doesn't raise any issues with Apple's developer agreement.  I missed
the earlier part of the thread and was just talking about use of previous
GPL tuxmath code.  I think something unrestrictive like the MIT or BSD
license, or perhaps Apache, would be a good choice for any OSS project we
want to get into the App Store.  There are GPLv2 apps in the App Store, to
be sure.  They get around the requirement of providing source code by
offering it for download on their own site, since the user can't get it
through Apple.  This doesn't strictly satisfy the GPL, because Apple is
distributing binary-only software.  Apple claims they aren't distributors
via the App Store any more than Best Buy is a distributor when you buy
something in a box, but this argument seems specious to me.  As for the
GPLv3, it explicitly requires that any user who gets the binary also can
get not just the source, but any digital keys or signatures required to run
modified versions on the same hardware.  This isn't compatible with Apple's
iOS policies by any interpretation.

So, if we have a complete rewrite, let's just go with a permissive OSS
license.  I'm a fan of the GPL, but in this scenario I'm more attracted by
getting our software in front of all the kids who have iPads and iPhones,
irrespective of what I think about Apple's control-freak behavior.

-- 
David Bruce

For all your software needs, visit The Apt Store:
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian stable main
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