License Question

[Ben Finney]

On Sat, 21 Jun 2003 23:25:35 -0700, achrist at easystreet.com wrote:
> I really do hate to discuss or argue about licenses.  Honest.

They can be pretty stressful.  They are important, though, which is why
people put so much energy into them.

> "3. In the event Licensee prepares a derivative work that is based on
> or incorporates Python 2.2.3 or any part thereof, [...]
> Licensee hereby agrees to include in any such work a brief summary of
> the changes made to Python 2.2.3."
> 
> I interpret this to mean that a distributed version of a python
> script I write, created with Py2exe or the McMillan installer, 
> since it includes Python is covered by this provision.

"Derivative work" here is a copyright term (this is a copyright license)
referring to a work that incorporates, in whole or in part, the work
with this license attached.  So, something that includes the whole of
Python is a derivative work, by my reading.

> So, I've got to put a copy of the news.txt file or something like it
> somewhere in my distribution?

No, you only have to include "[...] the changes made to Python 2.2.3."
If you're including the whole thing, but not actually making changes to
it, then your "brief summary of the changes" is zero length.

> I don't have to make any other mention of Python, but I've got to tell
> about changes in the current release, which is why?

Only changes that *you*, the Licensee of Python 2.2.3, have made to the
original in your derivative work.

Seems like if you're not actually changing Python 2.2.3, you need do
nothing to satisfy this clause.


As for "make any other mention of Python", you'll need to read the rest
of the license to confirm that; I'm pretty sure you'll need to include
the Python 2.2.3 license text when you distribute it.

IANAL, TINLA.

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