Conversation
Notices
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Bradley M. Kuhn
Linux Outlaws Podcast
, GNU Affero General Public Licence
, The GNU General Public License
, The GNU Lesser General Public License
, Allison Randal
Finally heard !LO w/ @allisonrandal who gives no evidence for assertionj developers of !GPL & !AGPL stuff generally want code !LGPL'd too.
about a year ago from mustard-
@fontana I still have some stuff in subversion on my server, so I had to figure out how to use it again last night.
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@gomerx git svnimport. Learn to love it.
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@fontana hg has SVN pull an push capabilities as does git :-)
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@psquid I've been considering moving to git. I only have a couple things in svn, but they're important. I actually have stuff in CVS still.
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@bkuhn the most !disturbing thing to me was assertion that most developers releasing under copyleft are ok with permissive licensing.
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@gomerx Well, as I said, there's a git command specifically for converting repos: "git svnimport". It is a thing of beauty. :)
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@ashcrow Git also has full svn import capabilities (i.e., full conversion of repo). Hg, dunno, but I wouldn't be surprised if it does.
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@psquid Hg has git support (which is also awesome).
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@speeddefrost Looking at the man page, it looks like it has repo import support for basically _everything_. :O
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@psquid I need to learn how to run git on my server, but I'll need to learn it eventually anyway. I've got the git book on my Kindle.
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@gomerx gitosis is easy to set up, i used this: http://ur1.ca/3rbmz
Jeff Has Moved likes this. -
@psquid yup, both do and do good jobs!
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@kevingranade, @allisonrandal didn't quite say that,but she said those who chose strong #copyleft want it relicensed weak copyleft regularly
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@bkuhn As someone who almost exclusively uses #git, I'd be interested to know: which features does it lack compared to #subversion?
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@psquid, the one I just told @fontana, plus the fact #Subversion makes an immutable record. !Git allows commit rewriting.
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@bkuhn Ah, okay. I don't personally find those to be valuable, but on the other hand, I can somewhat see that they could be useful.
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@psquid Yeah, that did kinda surprise me too :) The SVN cloning support was as good as it should be.
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@bkuhn what does svn have that git doesn't? genuine question, not trolling. I only know git, curious to learn about other options :)
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@fukawi2, please see that I answered that question in previous dents: http://identi.ca/notice/76661249 & http://identi.ca/notice/76661336
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@bkuhn Thx, didn't see that, only saw the dent you tagged to the Fedora group :)
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@bkuhn err... what stops anyone from rewriting the commit history in a SVN repository?
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@lxoliva in order to do it you have to export the history, edit it, and re-import into a new repository, otherwise you leave signs.
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@kevingranade and how's that different from git commit rewriting?
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@lxoliva both have measures 2 prevent or limit history rewriting. Svn req's admin access 4some ops+Git has some crypto. @kevingranade @bkuhn
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@psquid What are the advantages of git svnimport compared to git-svn?
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@clacke I think git-svn pulls and pushes to/from an svn repo, whereas git svnimport does a complete (irreversible?) conversion.
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@psquid Yes. What is the advantage of the latter, rather than doing the former and then running with it? Curious if func dup has merits.
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@psquid going to be so freaking useful when we have to use svn next year >.<
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@clacke I guess the latter is mainly for if you're certain you want it to be a git repo indefinitely from now on.
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@reality Well, if you have to push it back to svn afterwards, you should probably use git svn, rather than svnimport.
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@psquid I suppose burning bridges may have value in itself. Does is do better svn-to-git mapping of branch/merge etc than git-svn might?
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@psquid thats what i meeant
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@bkuhn, @kevingranade What? Not sure where you got that...
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@bkuhn, @kevingranade I generally think the FLOSS world is grouped in "strong copyleft", "strong permissive", and a range between the two.
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@bkuhn, @kevingranade Strong copylefts would never want their work relicensed as permissive, it would completely undermine their goals.
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@bkuhn GPLv3 leaves devs with no options for an updated GPL without extra terms. Is a decent copyleft license, but should have new name.
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@reality In my opinion, the best svn client is bzr.
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@fontana Really? That's just a little bit surprising.
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@clacke (didn't find it)
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@fontana That would make sense. Or really, any prefix to show distinction. The "Douglas General Public License". (No stranger than Affero.)
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@allisonrandal, !FSF has always said that !GPL would be updated & of course it would have different terms. There was no surprise.
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Bradley M. Kuhn
Linux Outlaws Podcast
, The GNU General Public License
, The GNU Lesser General Public License
, Allison Randal
@allisonrandal, !LGPL is *not* a strong copyleft. Your statements on !LO were surely inaccurate. You said !GPL authors would happily LGPL.
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@allisonrandal, I support your right to oppose !GPL & its goals; it's your right of course. But you've leaked those positions into #Harmony.
Jeff Has Moved likes this. -
Bradley M. Kuhn
Linux Outlaws Podcast
, The GNU General Public License
, The GNU Lesser General Public License
, Allison Randal
@allisonrandal,I got it from your !LO interview;You said that those who chose !GPL would be fine with relicense under !LGPL. Go listen to it
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@bkuhn I take it you just listened to the Harmony episode? :)
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@allisonrandal, !GPLv2 -only was always an option that !FSF encouraged for those who didn't want to trust the FSF to shepherd the GPL.
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!GPLv2 §9: "new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns."
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@clacke Oh right, what would you say makes it better than git-svn? (I haven't tried it yet, but will need to)
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@bkuhn I agree the distinction is important, though in the range "strong copyleft" to "strong permissive", GPL and LGPL are very close.
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@reality bzr stores enough metadata to make svn a valid bzr repo in most respects, more adaptation than integration.
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@bkuhn IIRC, what I was trying to explain at the time was why we wanted a general "copyleft" option in Harmony.
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@bkuhn Perhaps it's better not to have a general "copyleft" option, and to have projects list specific copyleft licenses instead.
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@reality example: bzr branches from same svn repo can merge. Modeled faithfully for bzr clients, as closely as possible for svn clients.
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@allisonrandal, yes, that was the context. Diff copylefts do diff things & they can be weaker or stronger. Lumping them all together is odd.
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Bradley M. Kuhn
The GNU General Public License
, The GNU Lesser General Public License
, Allison Randal
@allisonrandal, IMO your analysis is wrong if you believe the !GPL & !LGPL are "very close". strong != weak. They are v. different by design
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@bkuhn Which is more different: copyleft vs permissive, or two copylefts with varying definitions of "linking"?
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@allisonrandal, which is more different: copyleft vs. permissive, or !Faif vs. proprietary. False dichotomies aren't going to help here.
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@allisonrandal, if you believe that !FSF violated !GPLv2 §9, you should file a class action law suit about it. Otherwise, it's just rhetoric
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@allisonrandal that's a false dichotomy, naming comparison that is "more different", does not affect "how different" original comparison is.
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@allisonrandal IMO you're missing the point, it is intentionally not defined, it is merely a matter of whether you trust the speaker or not.
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@bkuhn It's completely lawful, just not entirely helpful to free software developers.
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@allisonrandal,I disagree. !GPLv3 is incredibly helpful to many !FaiF developers,just not all of them & the latter were on notice about this
Rob Myers likes this. -
@allisonrandal,I wasn't speaking purely to lawfulness. You hint that !FSF broke some trust w/ developers. !GPLv2 §9 shows clearly FSF didn't
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@bkuhn I'm sure I didn't say "all" would be happy to relicense. I've known you too long to make that mistake. :) Maybe I said "some"?
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@bkuhn The GPLv3 process demonstrated to me that the FSF values their legal principles more highly than anything else.
Ingolf Schaefer likes this. -
@allisonrandal, I think you might be confusing !SFLC w/ !FSF there. FSF values morality of software freedom more highly than anything else.
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@bkuhn Which has always been true, and a laudable goal. But, I saw more clearly what they were willing to sacrifice along the way.
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Bradley M. Kuhn
Free Software Foundation
, GNU Affero General Public Licence
, The GNU General Public License
, Allison Randal
@allisonrandal, if anything, the !FSF sacrificed in the opposite direction. Don't forget !AGPL's Affero clause was supposed to be in !GPLv3.
Rob Myers likes this. -
@kevingranade Yes, trust in the author of the changes is key.
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@bkuhn "morality" implies a degree of "manifest destiny" that I'm not comfortable applying to the FSF or any other organization/individual.
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@allisonrandal for your criticism to be taken seriously, need to know what !FSF is sacrificing that is more important than software freedom.
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@kevingranade The most immediately obvious sacrifice was in the disregard for the needs of the kernel developers, and the resulting schism.
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@kevingranade A longer-term sacrifice is in gradually undermining their own reputation as thought-leaders in software freedom.
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@allisonrandal the schism with the kernel devs dates to the choice of GPLv2-only, they don't have upgrade path regardless of choices re v3.
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@allisonrandal you're begging the question, *how* are they undermining their own reputation?
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@kevingranade With appropriate legal steps, they could have upgraded (still can), but choose not to because of GPLv3.
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@kevingranade (Note that if GPLv2 and GPLv3 were 100% compatible, they could just "modify and redistribute" their own work under GPLv3.)
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@allisonrandal if changes to make GPLv3 palatable to kernel devs contradict FaiF principles, is that an appropriate compromise? I think not.
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@allisonrandal was that workable within the goals of GPLv3? I don't know, not expert enough in the workings to decide.
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@kevingranade Entirely possible. Would have only required sticking more closely to the terms of GPLv2 (while updating for modern law).
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@kevingranade Traditionally, GPL *defined* copyleft. GPLv3 introduced ambiguity: "I'm copyleft, but not that kind of copyleft."
Ricardo Dias Marques likes this. -
@allisonrandal your "sticking more closely to terms of GPLv2" seems to contradict my "within goals of GPLv3".
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@allisonrandal of course, if they didn't see a need for change, why issue a v3 in the first place?
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@kevingranade GPLv3 sets FSF as the thought-leader of a smaller, more radical subset of the software freedom community.
joshix likes this. -
@kevingranade Perhaps "smaller and more radical" is exactly what the FSF wants, but it leaves a bit of a power vacuum in software freedom.
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@kevingranade GPLv2 definitely needed an update. Some legal ambiguities discovered over the years, and some antiquated language.
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@allisonrandal your characterization of GPLv3 as "radical" is far from establishing that they are "undermining their reputation".
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@allisonrandal, !FSF ceased being the sole definers copyleft when Mitchell released 1st #Mozilla Public License. It's a v.diff weak copyleft
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@fontana,since you're !LGPLv3's primary author,I defer to your analysis LGPL is closer to permissive than strong copyleft;cc: @allisonrandal
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@allisonrandal: We must have seen different revision processes and eventual licences. I'd say quite the opposite. :-)
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@fontana,Agreed;as I said, @allisonrandal has every right to oppose !FSF view of copyleft,but is !disturbing she leads #Harmony w/ that view
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@bkuhn I don't actually oppose FSF's view of copyleft, I just see wider social and cultural impacts of GPLv3 (my anthropologist background).
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@bkuhn Also, Harmony doesn't have a leader.
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@allisonrandal Every group has a leader. If explicit or not, there's *always* a leader. It's human nature.
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@fontana I see ongoing decisions of projects on whether/when to upgrade, and whether they're compatible with dependencies who already have.
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@fontana Either phrasing could allow most changes. But, enormous effort went into ensuring Artistic2 was the same terms as Artistic1.
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@fontana Is your policy that GPLv2 and GPLv3 are compatible? i.e. it's fine for GPLv2 code to link or include GPLv3 code? (Just curiosity.)
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@fabsh I disagree that every group has a dictator (benevolent or not), but agree group work often falls to a small number of people.
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@allisonrandal Leader does not mean dictator. Also: Benevolent dictators do not exist. It's a dangerous misnomer.
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@allisonrandal in fact the term is a joke, not meant to be taken seriously
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@fontana I sympathize with the confusion, I had the same misunderstanding of SFLC's role in Harmony last year.
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@fontana But, "janitor of boring infrastructure bits" does not equal "leader".
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@fontana Agreed that GPLv2-or-later is GPLv3 compatible, both upstream and downstream.
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@fontana I thought they were, but was later corrected (by them). They did the work that needed to be done, but did not intend to lead.
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@allisonrandal, how are releases for #Harmony decided if it has no leader? Is there voting? Where's its governance structure documents?
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@allisonrandal, manifest destiny refers to forceful imposition of a moral doctrine. !GPL is opt-*in*. !FSF's work is *not* manifest destiny!
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@allisonrandal,Are you a cultural relativist? It'd explain why you believe having a moral code is equivalent to practicing manifest destiny.
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This talk of "Manifest Destiny" made me think of the #DRI song, which led me to discover they're still touring. Weird: http://ur1.ca/4hrko
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@dbs, I agree that software projects can work that way. Producing moral documents, though, seems like it needs some structure IMO.
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@bkuhn Not absolutely. ;) But as an anthropologist, I do have some cultural relativist leanings.
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@allisonrandal,I once told #ESR, it's impossible to be an anthropologist studying a culture you're part of. ESR freaked out on me about that
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@bkuhn I do believe that those who give their software away permissively are every bit as "right" as those who give it away copyleft-ly.
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@bkuhn I wholly agree with that. Anthropology is about being objective, you cant be objective about something you're part of
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@bkuhn Heh, the great studies of the Nacirema!
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@allisonrandal, of course I agree w/ you on that. It's those who make proprietary versions of any software who are acting morally wrong IMO.
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@fontana, this was,BTW,conference where #ESR said he'd take #Torvalds to shooting range to help "ensure all #OpenSource people are gun nuts"
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@bkuhn So, it's not "wrong" to use permissive licenses, but is "wrong" to exercise the rights they grant? That doesn't make sense.
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@fontana @allisonrandal makes perf sense to me. all immoral behavior doesn't need to be made illegal. doing so optional pragmatic move.
Bradley M. Kuhn likes this. -
@allisonrandal Plus very different legal landscape and hardware changes making it impossible to retain v2 spirit w/o lots of overhaul for v3
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@allisonrandal, of course it makes sense,it's just that you don't agree w/ moral position that proprietary software is wrong but !FaiF isn't
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@allisonrandal, plenty of things are morally wrong IMO that aren't illegal & for various reasons I even don't think they should be illegal.
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@bkuhn: conversely, some things are illegal and undoubtedly morally right. The two sets are only partly overlapping, I reckon.
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@carlopiana, I agree completely. Laws approximate morality, they don't define it. I'm surprised @allisonrandal doesn't agree.
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@bkuhn You're missing the fundamental point that permissive licensing *intentionally* grants the right to make proprietary redistributions.
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@allisonrandal, & the laws of the USA allow me to drive a car every day, which I also think is morally wrong but shouldn't be illegal.
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@allisonrandal,whether or not a particular rule permits something w/out penalty has virtually nothing to do with the morality of the action.
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@allisonrandal, another example: it's morally wrong not to recycle. But recycling is not legally mandated in most jurisdictions.
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@bkuhn I agree with you. Just a side point: It *is* legally mandated in most of Europe. ;)
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@bkuhn under what moral code is it wrong not to recycle? I agree its a good thing, but when does not doing a good thing == to a bad thing?
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@fontana, IMO correct analogy is: "permissive licensing is like a store that sells drinks in plastic bottles but has no ♻ bin on premises."
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@fontana,In other words,permissive licensing doesn't require you to DTRT morally,but doesn't prevent you from doing so,which is what matters
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@bkuhn I see proprietary software as unfortunate, shortsighted, a lesser business model, limiting to innovation, but not "morally wrong".
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@allisonrandal, our disagreement on that's established. My point is: it's morally consistent to merely prefer copyleft rather than demand it
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@bkuhn unless you get into meta levels...
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@bkuhn I'll think a bit about that. I'm trying to see it from your perspective (cultural relativism), and not quite managing.
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@allisonrandal, I have a morality of right & wrong. Proprietary software is wrong, but not so wrong it *must* be illegal. Does that help?
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@bkuhn It just bugs my Spock-like logic to say you accept permissives while rejecting their philosophy. How is that acceptance?
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@allisonrandal @bkuhn is soooo Kantian, which is soooo not cultural relativist
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@allisonrandal,I'm not opposed to permissive licenses b/c they grant software freedom. It's just poor strategy since they fail to defend it.
sazius (moved to status.saz.im) likes this. -
@allisonrandal,Putting it YA way: moral imperative is to grant software freedom. How to defend freedom is strategic question,not a moral one
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@allisonrandal a near analogy, can you understand accepting licensing "for any use", but having a problem with e.g. making weapons with sw?
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@allisonrandal,eg: failure of #Harmony to have an InboundCopyleft=OutboundCopyleft option is horrible strategy, but not necessarily immoral.
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More generally speaking,I find #Harmony !disturbing b/c it approaches an area wrought w/ moral issues with a completely amoral attitude.
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@bkuhn You pointed out that there is no generic copyleft strategy that will work for Harmony. It has to be a specific list of licenses.
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@bkuhn wrought? fraught?
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@bkuhn I am, BTW, recommending that in the Harmony drafting meeting in 30 mins, based on your feedback.
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@cwebber Aye, *I'm* being cultural relativist in trying to assess his values within the frame of his own culture rather than my own culture.
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@allisonrandal Ah, gotcha :)
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@bkuhn This is among the stupidest things I've ever read. First, it is like saying "write what you don't know." Second, viewed from the...
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@bkuhn ...persp. of any of the supposed ET alien cultures you spend your nights wet-dreaming abt, Earth has a culture. You can't study it?
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@bkuhn it could indeed be a moral one, just needs thinking on a level above the normal one to explore the possibility.
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@bkuhn Rather than saying they don't defend software freedom, why not instead say they leave its defence up to the developer.
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@webmink it's up to the developer (or their representative) either way, but permissive licensing is unilateral disarmament.
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@bkuhn Plus economic necessity. Both are valid and morally acceptable defences.
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@kevingranade That's a view, but another view is that the developers involved consider non-copyleft as introducing another freedom.
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@webmink I'm not saying they're wrong to do it, but I think my characterization is fair within the context of "defending software freedome".
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@webmink aren't you (or they) confusing freedom with power? http://fsfla.org/blogs/lxo/pub/freedom-vs-power
Jesús E. Franco Martínez likes this. -
@webmink, issue of "introducing another freedom" w/ permissive licensing has been well debated. @rms & wrote on it 10 yrs ago: ur1.ca/2ai3k
der.hans likes this. -
@bkuhn permissive vs. copyleft is really just an extension of the debate of anarchy vs. democracy
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Via @bkuhn "I'm not opposed to permissive licenses b/c they grant software freedom. It's just poor strategy since they fail to defend it"
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@bkuhn heh, funny too how some BSD developers end up getting angry when people do take their code and never open the changes back up
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@mcgrof, I'm now on public record saying this thing I've said to you before:Some BSD developers practice what I call "copyleft by guilt".
Richard Fontana likes this. -
♻ @bkuhn I'm not opposed to permissive licenses b/c they grant software freedom. It's just poor strategy since they fail to defend it
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@x1101 Not at all -- the !anarchist side favors #copyleft. You probably mean !capitalism / power versus #freedom.
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@x1101 No, #copyleft is !anarchist. Copyleft vs. Permissive is #freedom vs. power / !capitalism's "bourgeois liberty" (freedom to exploit)
Rob Myers likes this. -
@lxoliva Only if you take a Stallmanite philosophy as given. I know many people who regard freedom as removed by copyleft.
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@bkuhn I hate that - I also see if in copyleft-based communities sometimes though.
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@bkuhn Indeed, it is a natural element in the software freedom dialectic with no universally accepted resolution.
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@webmink, well, in copyleft communities, those are the legal requirements, so making people feel guilty is irrelevant: it's a © infringement
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@webmink, It's akin to Libertarian vs. liberal debates that are common in the USA. Many libertarians believe slavery should be permitted too
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@bkuhn Only if there's someone willing to go litigate. Plenty of people would prefer to just shame the offender.
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@webmink Shame doesn't work. We can see that with Apple. They are clearly afraid of litigation though so they avoid GPL.
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@bkuhn Slavery doesn't seem very libertarian to me. That philosophical belief must be heavily modified by US politics?
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@fabsh Indeed, corporations are immune to shame.
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@webmink I think it can work if the community is behind it. Apple gets cut too much slack and MS and Oracle just don't care.
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@webmink I've seen it work with Google in some instances, though. But generally, you are totally right.
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@webmink They don't recognize it as shame. They would recognize it as bad PR and if it affects business, it can result in change.
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@webmink those who regard it as such are mistaken; enslaving/controlling others is not freedom, but power
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@webmink rejecting the difference between freedom and power amounts to rejecting “one's freedom ends where the neighbors' begin”
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@webmink more often said as "My right to swing my arms around ends exactly at someone else's face"
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@gabrielsaldana exactly! and not just because I wouldn't want to be controlled, but because it'd be power, not freedom ;-)
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@lxoliva and what about the freedom to have power?
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@gabrielsaldana power, being over others, requires very good justification and must be granted voluntarily for legitimacy
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@gabrielsaldana unless you're speaking of a different kind of power (e.g. electricity), of course ;-)
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@lxoliva "power is taken, not given" - Nicholai Machiavelli !q
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@gabrielsaldana there it goes ;-) the logical conclusion is that power is always illegitimate. freedom is key
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@fabsh Natural reptile behaviour :-) http://webmink.com/essays/reptiles
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@lxoliva Since I know your mind is made up I decline the opportunity to fight. But thanks for the invitation :-)
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@silner,Many USA Libertarians believe people should be "free" to sell themselves into slavery if they want & government shouldn't intervene.
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@silner some fringe beleive everything can be bought and sold in a free market, including your own freedom. Maybe even the market itself...
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@patrickniedzielski Anarchists aren't stupid; we don't pretend to live in anarchy right now; copyleft is the best we've got cc @tedks
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@jbeatty Public domain, a relinquishing of state given rights, bypassing the need for a state, seems far more appealing to the anarchist.
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@patrickniedzielski Public domain favors the corp; anarchists cannot afford to live in a fantasy world. Have you ever even met an anarchist?
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@jbeatty One. Calm down. Nowhere have I claimed anarchists' beliefs are fantasies, nor that they "pretend". I have met anarchists, yes.
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@jbeatty Two. Anarchism is not the same as anticorporationism. Most anarchists believe in the latter, but do not one for the other.
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@patrickniedzielski an anarchist's allegiance is to freedom; opposition to the state is merely a side effect. Don't confuse us with AnCaps
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@patrickniedzielski anarchocapitalism is not anarchism, way to ignore hundreds of years of theory, fuck Big-L Libertarians
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@jbeatty One. Calm down. Nowhere have I attacked you. stfu with your attacks on me.
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@patrickniedzielski slandering anarchists as ignorant idealists who oppose a state for some arbitrary reason is an attack.
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@jbeatty Where have I called you ignorant? Where have I slandered?
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@jbeatty Wikipedia says basically the same thing, as does World Book.
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I'm not in the mood for this Goddamnit
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@allisonrandal,you said:being unable to use GPL'd code in LGPL'd project (w/out GPL'ing whole) "isn't way developers think" !LO 204 at 37:30
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@bkuhn Well, I deal with a lot of developers who don't understand why we can't ship GPL/LGPL code under permissive licenses, so yeah.
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Bradley M. Kuhn
The GNU General Public License
, The GNU Lesser General Public License
, Allison Randal
@allisonrandal, but "a lot" doesn't justify the sweeping genarlizations you made. Most developers I talk to can tell diff btw !GPL & !LGPL.
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@bkuhn Care to quantify that "most"? I still routinely get the most basic imaginable questions about FOSS licenses from seasoned developers.
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@bkuhn most coders I see talking on the net outside specialist circles can barely tell diff btw a computer and a magic genie: need teaching
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@webmink "most devs [bkuhn] talks to" != "most devs", I suspect.
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@webmink,my "most" is surely just as quantified as @allisonrandal's is. I rarely talk to a developer who doesn't know roughly:GPL, LGPL, BSD
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@dbs, I probably talk to more diversity of developers than most,since my role at #Conservancy has me interacting w/ a wide range of projects
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