[Chicago] Capistrano alternatives

[Martin Maney]

On Sun, Jan 04, 2009 at 07:25:24PM -0600, Ian Bicking wrote:
> Lawyers are bullshit.

Not half as bullshit as asking a bunch of non-lawyers for legal advice,
which I was trying to avoid saying in so many words.  <wink>

> The ABSOLUTE WORST CASE is that the developers of Fabric will be
> annoyed that you are using their code in a closed source system, and
> they'll ask you to open your code or stop using Fabric.  If you are a

Are you the copyright owner of Fabric?  I truly have no idea.  If you
aren't, this is, yes, in line with the usual outcome, but it's also
just so much hot air if you cannot speak for them.

I may have read too much into the OP's query - whether justified or
not, I thought there might be commercial considerations involved
(perhaps since he said he'd read the GPL, which so few bother to do).
But I'm saddened to see you suggesting, apparently, that he should just
do what he wants to and not worry about violating a license since it
won't cost him much.  BTW, if he's invested a good deal of time and
effort in setting things up using Fabric and has some compelling reason
not to choose the "GPL everything" solution, then that cost could turn
out not to be so small after all...

> then you might also burn some social capital.  That's all you risk, and  
> if you ask the Fabric people up front how they interpret the GPL then  
> you don't even risk that.  Any other prediction is simply false.

That's a good point - a clear statement of how the copyright holders
interpret the specific application would be a fine idea.  A good lawyer
might have suggested this.

> Lawyers probably won't tell you this, which is why you shouldn't ask a  
> lawyer.

Well, Sturgeon's Law, sure.  I guess it can be hard to find a *good*
lawyer.  :-/

-- 
Not on the wealthy, who buy only what they want when they want it, was
the vast superstructure of industry founded and built up, but on those who,
aching for a luxury beyond their reach and for a leisure forever denied them,
could be bullied or wheedled into spending their few hardly won shillings
on whatever might give them, if only for a moment, a leisured and
luxurious illusion.  -- Dorothy Sayers, _Murder Must Advertise_