[XML-SIG] licencing of PyXML contributions

[Martin v. Loewis]

> Before I start showing it to anyone, I want to put it under an
> open-source licence. Are there any licences that would make it
> easier/harder to add to PyXML?

I guess inclusion of GPL'ed software would be difficult unless we
could reasonably claim that it is "mere packaging", since all derived
code must then appear under GPL, also, and it might be hard to get all
contributors to agree to change there license to GPL.

We have the habit of copying all license text into the file LICENCE.
For that, it would simplify maintainance if the license text would not
read, say, "MICHAEL DYCK DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES", since that could
easily change into "MICHALE DYCK, LARS MARIUS GARSHOL, FRED DRAKE, AND
MARTIN VON LOEWIS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES". So you might chose a
licensing text that does not mention the author's name. In recent
expat (I believe), the text 

<license>
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
"Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:
 
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
 
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
</license>

is used. In the copy in LICENSE, we don't copy "the above copyright",
but instead mention the files where it can be found. This license
essentially allows any use, as long as the copyright notice in the
source files is maintained.

Of course, this is a suggestion only - he who writes the code choses
the license.

Regards,
Martin