Re: [Esug-list] It looks like Amber, it smells like Amber… But it is not Amber!

PB
Paolo Bonzini
Thu, May 16, 2013 4:42 PM

Il 16/05/2013 17:38, Alejandro F. Reimondo ha scritto:

Hi Paolo,

As you wrote to my personal email and c.c. to places where I am not
subscribed,
please c.c. my response (total or partially) to that places to make the
point clear
to persons that can read your email.

Sure.

The main system is at
http://u8.smalltalking.net/profile/aleReimondo/239/index.html.  It has
a "MIT Licensed" link to the license, but it fails to list the
copyright holders.

The page do not load ok if you are using IE.
Please try it on Chrome or other webbrowser.
In case you must load the page in IE, press F5 to refresh
the page a few times and it will work :-)

I was using Firefox.

The license terms in an open system can change through time
and can be read in case the system is working ok.

I think you're confusing permissive license terms with "public domain".
When someone releases code under a permissive (non-copyleft) license,
they are not giving away their copyright.  They are keeping the
copyright, and granting to you the license to use the work according
to the license text.  In the  MIT license you can read:

  • The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
  • included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

Your website is including the permission notice, but not the copyright
notice.  The source is including both, but there is no easy way to find
it.  As things are, you are not respecting the license.

Also, you're confusing ideas (which cannot be copyrighted) with code.
Of course the ideas in a modern Smalltalk environment formed slowly
during the past 41 years.  And everybody is free to conceive a
JavaScript implementation of Smalltalk.  But if the idea is "translated
into code" by cut-and-paste of someone else's work, you must acknowledge
that work and their authors.

For example, the Stream libraries of GNU Smalltalk and Pharo implement
the same interface.  I never looked at Pharo code (much less
cut-and-pasted it) when writing it, hence I can say that the entire
copyright of that code is mine.  If I had taken code from Pharo, I
should have added a "Copyright (C) 2011 the Pharo authors" or something
like that.

I'm sure there is no malice in your action, but you should correct the
references to the license so that they also include the copyright
holders.  And your FAQ should not contain evasive answers, nor downplay
copyright.  If someone asked you if U8 is a derivative of Jtalk or
Amber, the best thing to do is to answer that clearly, perhaps even
provide a reference to the version of the code that you forked from.  It
would let interested people backport bugfixes from Jtalk/Amber to U8,
for example.

Most importantly, remember that this is not about culture, it is about
law.  Do the same thing tomorrow to someone less friendly than
Nicolas, and you might get in court.

I suggest reading
http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/github-needs-take-open-source-seriously-208046.

If the system has errors (the case with IE) it can fail to show
the license terms, at the current state of the system.

This was not the case.

Paolo

I have written a response to Nicolas with more information
about S8 images running on diferent execution environments
and license terms.

cheers,
Ale.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Paolo Bonzini" bonzini@gnu.org
To: "Nicolas Petton" petton.nicolas@gmail.com
Cc: "esug-list" esug-list@lists.esug.org; "Amber ML"
amber-lang@googlegroups.com; u8@smalltalking.net; "Alejandro F.
Reimondo" aleReimondo@smalltalking.net
Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2013 11:09 AM
Subject: Re: [Esug-list] It looks like Amber, it smells like Amber… But
it is not Amber!

Il 16/05/2013 15:15, Nicolas Petton ha scritto:

Now maybe I'm just too stupid and I " have not reached the
understanding of Smalltalk required to adopt a POV consistent with
S8"...

This certainly makes no sense, apart from the snarkiness.

The text that Guido found is from
http://u8.smalltalking.net/profile/aleReimondo/147/index.html, but
there's no reason to believe that it extends to more than that project.

The main system is at
http://u8.smalltalking.net/profile/aleReimondo/239/index.html.  It has
a "MIT Licensed" link to the license, but it fails to list the
copyright holders.

The source code at
http://u8.smalltalking.net/profile/smalltalking/64/u8.image.js does
list copyright holders:


S8 - Basic U8 image.
Copyright (C) 2013 - http://u8.smalltalking.net/u8.html
Copyright (C) 2013 Alejandro F. Reimondo
aleReimondo@smalltalking.net http://www.aleReimondo.com

Parts of source code written for Jtalk, Copyright (C) 2011 by Nicolas
Petton petton.nicolas@gmail.com
Also code and ideas from Clamato (http://clamato.net), written by Avi
Byrant.
The PetitParser library, published by Lukas Renggli
(http://lukas-renggli.ch) and released under the MIT license.
And people that contributed to Smalltalk on diverse media
years(decades) before this license holders claimed ownership.

It would be nice if it were a bit easier to find...

Paolo

Il 16/05/2013 17:38, Alejandro F. Reimondo ha scritto: > Hi Paolo, > > As you wrote to my personal email and c.c. to places where I am not > subscribed, > please c.c. my response (total or partially) to that places to make the > point clear > to persons that can read your email. Sure. >> The main system is at >> http://u8.smalltalking.net/profile/aleReimondo/239/index.html. It has >> a "MIT Licensed" link to the license, but it fails to list the >> copyright holders. > > The page do not load ok if you are using IE. > Please try it on Chrome or other webbrowser. > In case you must load the page in IE, press F5 to refresh > the page a few times and it will work :-) I was using Firefox. > The license terms in an open system can change through time > and can be read in case the system is working ok. I think you're confusing permissive license terms with "public domain". When someone releases code under a permissive (non-copyleft) license, they are not giving away their copyright. They are keeping the copyright, and granting to you the *license* to use the work according to the license text. In the MIT license you can read: * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be * included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. Your website is including the permission notice, but not the copyright notice. The source is including both, but there is no easy way to find it. As things are, you are not respecting the license. Also, you're confusing ideas (which cannot be copyrighted) with code. Of course the _ideas_ in a modern Smalltalk environment formed slowly during the past 41 years. And everybody is free to conceive a JavaScript implementation of Smalltalk. But if the idea is "translated into code" by cut-and-paste of someone else's work, you must acknowledge that work and their authors. For example, the Stream libraries of GNU Smalltalk and Pharo implement the same interface. I _never_ looked at Pharo code (much less cut-and-pasted it) when writing it, hence I can say that the entire copyright of that code is mine. If I had taken code from Pharo, I should have added a "Copyright (C) 2011 the Pharo authors" or something like that. I'm sure there is no malice in your action, but you should correct the references to the license so that they also include the copyright holders. And your FAQ should not contain evasive answers, nor downplay copyright. If someone asked you if U8 is a derivative of Jtalk or Amber, the best thing to do is to answer that clearly, perhaps even provide a reference to the version of the code that you forked from. It would let interested people backport bugfixes from Jtalk/Amber to U8, for example. Most importantly, remember that this is not about culture, it is about _law_. Do the same thing tomorrow to someone less friendly than Nicolas, and you might get in court. I suggest reading http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/github-needs-take-open-source-seriously-208046. > If the system has errors (the case with IE) it can fail to show > the license terms, at the current state of the system. This was not the case. Paolo > I have written a response to Nicolas with more information > about S8 images running on diferent execution environments > and license terms. > > cheers, > Ale. > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paolo Bonzini" <bonzini@gnu.org> > To: "Nicolas Petton" <petton.nicolas@gmail.com> > Cc: "esug-list" <esug-list@lists.esug.org>; "Amber ML" > <amber-lang@googlegroups.com>; <u8@smalltalking.net>; "Alejandro F. > Reimondo" <aleReimondo@smalltalking.net> > Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2013 11:09 AM > Subject: Re: [Esug-list] It looks like Amber, it smells like Amber… But > it is not Amber! > > > Il 16/05/2013 15:15, Nicolas Petton ha scritto: >>>> Now maybe I'm just too stupid and I " have not reached the >>>> understanding of Smalltalk required to adopt a POV consistent with >>>> S8"... > > This certainly makes no sense, apart from the snarkiness. > > The text that Guido found is from > http://u8.smalltalking.net/profile/aleReimondo/147/index.html, but > there's no reason to believe that it extends to more than that project. > > The main system is at > http://u8.smalltalking.net/profile/aleReimondo/239/index.html. It has > a "MIT Licensed" link to the license, but it fails to list the > copyright holders. > > The source code at > http://u8.smalltalking.net/profile/smalltalking/64/u8.image.js does > list copyright holders: > > ------------ > S8 - Basic U8 image. > Copyright (C) 2013 - http://u8.smalltalking.net/u8.html > Copyright (C) 2013 Alejandro F. Reimondo > <aleReimondo@smalltalking.net> http://www.aleReimondo.com > > Parts of source code written for Jtalk, Copyright (C) 2011 by Nicolas > Petton <petton.nicolas@gmail.com> > Also code and ideas from Clamato (http://clamato.net), written by Avi > Byrant. > The PetitParser library, published by Lukas Renggli > (http://lukas-renggli.ch) and released under the MIT license. > And people that contributed to Smalltalk on diverse media > years(decades) before this license holders claimed ownership. > ------------- > > It would be nice if it were a bit easier to find... > > Paolo >> > > >