Re: Copyrights (was Re: strsep sourc)

[Scott Klement <klemscot@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> What bothers me about all of this is the "standard practice" of using
> copyrighted programs that (nearly?) all of us have done... E.g., we see
> a copyrighted article in a trade magazine that provides an example
> template for "Work with..." functions and think nothing of using it more
> or less directly as the basis for every "Work with..." function we ever
> write. Downloadable code is usually available too, now that telecomm is
> everywhere.

IMHO, this situation is a bit more than just "using a copyrighted
program."

The text at the top of the source is the program's "license agreement".
It does more than just supply a copyright, it also explains the terms
of use, and presents a disclaimer that protects the programmer against
being sued should bugs in the code cause monetary loss for some
corporation.

The code is open source, and Bob and everyone else has full permission to
distribute it, provided only that they keep that license agreement in
tact.  That's all that was asked.

But, to strip it and send the rest of the code?   That's like taking MS
Windows and removing the EULA and then posting it publicly on the
internet.

You're not only violating a copyright, but you're violating the terms of
use, and you're taking away the programmer's protection against lawsuit.

Now, I agree that for this rather small and simple code, it's really
unlikely that you're going to get into any trouble.   But -- it's the
principle of the thing.   Why on earth would you strip this legal
agreement that the programmer decided to place on it?   As programmers,
and professionals, I'd think that out of courtesy, we'd respect other
programmer's rights.

There is a lot of code released under the BSD license.   Some of it is
simple like this one, some of it is very complicated and sophisticated,
such as the FreeBSD kernel, or the OpenSSL package.   Simply stripping the
license agreement and sending it on is not legal or moral.   Why do it,
when all it asks is that you copy 20-30 lines of comments with the code?!