On Thursday 21 September 2006 14:39, Ulf Lamping wrote:
> > "This is Free Software, and you are free to use it all you like, with no
> > restrictions or conditions. If you want to give copies of it to other
> > people, or to change it, you can do that, too, but there are some
> > limitations designed to make sure that whoever you give it to has the
> > same freedoms you do. The details are described below:"
>
> I don't think it will help the users in the long run, that any GPL'ed
> program will add it's own interpretation to the GPL!
I'm not proposing adding any additional interpretation to the GPL, just a very
brief introduction to tell users why they may or may not care to read the
GPL.
> There are far too many open source licenses already floating around.
I agree, but that isn't really relevant.
> I wouldn't have any problem if someone changes the "Accept" to an "Ok"
> button (however, it will be some more work than it seems IMO). Dismiss
> is an unexpected term, as a not native english speaker I would expect
> the installer to terminate in that case.
Perhaps. As a native speaker, I would expect it to simply get rid of that
window. If "Ok" is more universally clear, that's fine. "Next" might be
better.
> The developers (including myself) put this software under the GPL and so
> be it! I don't like the idea to add any interpretation of this license
> in the installer or elsewhere!
Again, I'm not proposing any interpretation. Just trying to clarify that
users do not, in fact, need to agree to any license terms in order to install
and run the software. I suppose that the notion that they don't need to
agree to it might be an interpretation, but the FSF's GPL FAQ is pretty clear
on the point.
If you really want to make sure that no reinterpretation of the GPL is risked,
perhaps something like:
"Wireshark is distributed under the GNU General Public License. The text of
the license is presented here for your information, but you do not need to
read or agree to it to install and run this software."
Is that better?
Thanks,
Shawn.