Author: Jon Dart
Date: 08:16:20 10/13/01
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I've considered releasing under the GPL license. This is very much standard practice for non-commercial software released under Linux, since Linux itself and much of its toolset are under GPL. Many Linux vendors will not distribute software that is not under GPL or an equivalent license. It isn't nearly as universal in the PC/Windows world. The main disadvantage of GPL is that you effectively lose control over the creation of what the copyright office calls "derivative works". Anyone can modify the code and distribute the modified results. GPL imposes requirements when you do this but the whole point of GPL is to allow this. Like other chess program authors, I'm not willing to do this. I don't want multiple variants of my program by different authors to be released. I don't want to enter a tournament, either, and find my program matched against a near clone of itself. It may never happen but GPL allows it to happen. I am quite unconvinced by RMS's arguments that all software ought to be free (in the GPL sense). But, please, let's not start a debate about that here.
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