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by Daniele Giacomini, <daniele (ad) swlibero·org>
At the moment (and maybe forever), the enclosed license is only an experimental draft. Please do not use the enclosed license; or at least, do not use it at the state of this version, unless you are fully competent.
The border separating computer programs and other kind of copyrighted work might be very difficult to establish (for example a program might show a citation, a picture, play a sample of a song, and a book about algorithms might become a computer program) and the use of many different copyleft licenses do not allow to merge different works with different licenses. Under this point of view, it might be important to use a single copyleft license, valid for every kind of work, without losing the guarantees that a specific license can give. The enclosed license is an attempt to solve the problem, allowing also a transition escape rule to other common copyleft licenses.
Any help to refine and/or correct the text of the enclosed license and also of this presentation text is welcome. In particular, if you find that this description is not correctly implemented inside the text of the enclosed license, please write to me and explain to me what is wrong.
Please note that Daniele Giacomini is not a lawyer, that there is no organization behind him, and that he cannot give you any assistance to enforce the enclosed license. If you use this license you do it with the only assistance of your competence.
Inside this presentation of the enclosed license, some conventional names are used: Tizio is the name of the author of an original work; Caio is the name of a person who makes a derivative work; Sempronio is the name of a person who makes a derivative work from the derivative work of Caio.
The enclosed license defines "Not-modificable Sections", which are meant mainly to allow the incorporation of citations and other components which are distributed with different conditions, not allowing the modification. There is anyway an exception for the code (algorithm and implementation) of computer programs which cannot be not-modificable. For example, a book can report the description of an algorithm and Tizio (the author) expresses the will that it remains unmodified. Caio (who is another person) can use anyway the algorithm inside a real computer program, adapting or changing it as he needs. But a computer program can show a citation or a picture, can play a song or do some other kind of artistic performace: the citation, the picture, the song or other kind of performance might be considered the Not-modificable Section by the author, by the copyright holder, or just as common fair use, and so must be treated, also when modifying or adapting the logical code of the computer program.
Translation is considered allowed also for Not-modificable Sections, unless otherwise specified, for example when reproducing the text of a license agreement that can be done only "verbatim".
The original author or anyone reusing the work can require that a section and/or the file containing a section which might be modified inside any subsequent derivative works, will have a new name if modified. This requirement can be added and can be removed, but only after accomplishing it. That is: Tizio and/or Caio can add the requirement to change name to a section if it will be modified, but if Sempronio make a new derivative work, and he change the name to the section as requested, he can remove this requirement for further derivative works.
Tizio (the original author), Caio, and any other person making a derivative work, can activate an option requiring to change name to the work for further derivative works. If Sempronio, for example, changes the name inside his derivative work, he can also remove this option.
"Required Sections" are meant to allow the author(s) to put something like a dedication, an important component like an history of the work, or even a paying sponsor announcement. A Required Section might be removed if the derivative work contains only a little portion of the original. Required Sections do not apply to the code of a computer program, in the same way as described about Not-modificable Sections.
Please note that Required Sections may be inserted from the original author of a work; but if Caio (the one who makes a derivative work) wants to add a Required Section, he must add his own material to the work, and his personal addition must be more than the portion of the original work he used. That is: Required Sections are (or might be) a limitation to the reuse of the work and only the original author or somebody who add a conspiquos amount of work have the right to set a section as required. Again, in other words: Caio can add a sponsor or a something like that only if he really produced something.
The original author (or anyway the original copyright holder) can specify an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding some countries (this option is taken from the text of the GNU-GPL license). This option cannot be added from any Caio or Sempronio, and cannot be removed.
The original author may allow the incorporation of different works with incompatible conditions and/or requirements, limiting the extent of the license. This option cannot be added from any Caio or Sempronio, but can be removed inside a derivative work which does not incorporate such incompatible works.
A derivative work might be licensed with a different license, as explicity listed, according to the requirements of the original license, but also with coherence with the new elected one. This is allowed to permit the reuse of the work inside other works that already have a different immutable license, like usual GNU licenses, although such migration will not permit to reuse the derivative work inside a work covered by the Hybrid General License.
When Caio uses the work for a derivative work with a different license, he must also verify the coherence with the new license. For example, if the new license is the GNU-GPL, he must remove (and must be able to remove) citations and any other thing that cannot be changed, as explicitly described or implicit, inside the original work. But there are also situations when Caio cannot select a particular license, because he cannot fulfill the original requirements. For example, if Caio have to keep a section, and that section is also not-modificable (like the logo of a sponsor), he cannot use the GNU-GPL license. Generally, when Caio changes license, he takes the responsibility to do the transition correctly: respecting the Hybrid General License and the characteristics of the new license. If he does the transition correctly, the derivative work loses any reference to the original Hybrid General License.
The enclosed license defines what a "source" is and what an "object" is, but there is no way to explicitly impose the use of a particular source language and/or format.
For example, Tizio might have written a Pascal program, but Caio might want to modify it translating the source into C languge. As for the derivative work made by Caio, the source code is now the C source.
The translation of a source in situations like the one described above might be considered as a normal thing without need of warring for that, as long that previous authorship credits and other important informations for the purpose of the license are kept inside the new source or are part, in any other appropriated way, of the new derivative work.
The enclosed license does not enforce the use of a specific kind of source data; for example, the source of a song might be simply a WAV file, or even a compressed audio format (like MP3 or OGG). Such formats can be modified, but every modification will result in a loss of quality or data. It is the responsibility of the original author the use of a source suitable for further reuse without losing information; for example, a song might be written better as a music score, maybe with LilyPond, then compiled to obtain a printed score and an executable MIDI file. The text of the enclosed license does not give the way to impose the use of the original score format, but any derivative work that is not based on the music score source data (for example the new work might be based on the MIDI file, or even on a WAV file generated from the MIDI --think of a remix--), will have less possibility to survive than the original work.
Much of the text of the enclosed license is taken, literally or modified, from other common licenses; in particular these:
Michael Stutz, Design Science License, 2001, published originally at http://www.dsl.org/copyleft/dsl.txt, available at <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html>
Free Software Foundation, GNU General Public License, Version 2, 1991,
<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
Creative Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License,
<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/>
Opencontent, Open Publication License, 1999, version 1.0,
<http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/>
Other interesting references:
Nathanael Nerode, Why You Shouldn't Use the GNU FDL, 2003,
<http://home.twcny.rr.com/nerode/neroden/fdl.html>
David A. Wheeler, Make Your Open Source Software GPL-Compatible. Or Else.,
<http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/gpl-compatible.html>
HYBRID GENERAL LICENSE draft version 0.0064 January 2005
Copyright (c) 2003-2005 Daniele Giacomini
Via Morganella Est, 21
I-31050 Ponzano Veneto (TV)
ItalyVerbatim copying of this license document is permitted, in any medium, but changing it is not allowed. THIS LICENSE DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS-IS" WITH NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.
LICENSE
The Work (as defined below) is provided under the terms of this Hybrid General License. The Work is protected by copyright and/or other applicable law. Any use of the Work other than as authorized under this License is prohibited.
By exercising any rights to the work provided here, you accept and agree to be bound by the terms of this License. The licensor grants you the rights contained here in consideration of your acceptance of such terms and conditions.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
1. DEFINITIONS.
1.1. "License" shall mean this Hybrid General License. The License applies to any work which contains a notice placed by the work's copyright holder stating that it is published under the terms of this Hybrid General License.
1.2. "Work" shall mean such an aforementioned work. The License also applies to the output of the Work, only if said output constitutes a Derivative Work of the licensed Work as defined below.
1.3. "Collective Work" means a work, such as a periodical issue, anthology or encyclopedia, in which the Work in its entirety in unmodified form, along with a number of other contributions, constituting separate and independent works in themselves, are assembled into a collective whole. A work that constitutes a Collective Work will not be considered a Derivative Work (as defined below) for the purposes of this License.
1.4. "Derivative Work" means a work based upon the Work or upon the Work and other pre-existing works, such as a technical adaptation, translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which the Work may be recast, transformed, or adapted, except that a work that constitutes a Collective Work will not be considered a Derivative Work for the purpose of this License.
1.5. "Object Form" shall mean an executable or performable form of the Work, being an embodiment of the Work in some tangible medium.
1.6. "Source Data" shall mean the origin of the Object Form, being the entire, machine-readable, preferred form of the Work for copying and for human modification (usually the language, encoding or format in which composed or recorded by the Author); plus any accompanying files, scripts or other data necessary for installation, configuration or compilation of the Work.
Examples of "Source Data" include, but are not limited to, the following: if the Work is an image file composed and edited in PNG format, then the original PNG source file is the Source Data; if the Work is an MPEG 1.0 layer 3 digital audio recording made from a WAV format audio file recording of an analog source, then the original WAV file is the Source Data; if the Work was composed as an unformatted plaintext file, then that file is the Source Data; if the Work was composed in LaTeX, the LaTeX file(s) and any image files and/or custom macros necessary for compilation constitute the Source Data.
If and when the Source Data does not require to be transformed into an Object Form to operate, perform, read or otherwise interpret and/or execute the Work, then the Object Form is exactly the same as the Source Data, for the purpose of this License.
1.7. "Section of the Work" is an identificable portion of the Work.
1.8. "Not-modificable Section" of the Work is a section of the Work that it is not allowed to modify, as explicitly requested by the Author inside the Work or because of common fair use.
1.9. "Required Section" of the Work is a section of the Work that the Author explicitly requires to be kept with Derivative Works.
1.10. "Substantial part of the original work" is a recognizeable portion of the Work, whether literal or modified, that is at least a one fourth of the whole original work.
1.11. "Substantial portion of the Derivative Work" is at least a one fourth of the whole Derivative Work.
1.12. "Author" shall mean the copyright holder(s) of the Work.
1.13. The individual licensees are referred to as "you".
2. LICENSE VERSIONS.
Daniele Giacomini may publish revised and/or new versions of the Hybrid General License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.
Each version is given a distinguishing version number, represented either with decimal point or decimal comma. If the Work specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and "any later version", you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that version or of any later version published by Daniele Giacomini. If the Work does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version greather or equal to 1.0 published by Daniele Giacomini.
The versions of this License containing the word "draft" near the version number have no legal value.
3. RIGHTS AND COPYRIGHT.
The Work is copyrighted by the Author. All rights to the Work are reserved by the Author, except as specifically described below. This License describes the terms and conditions under which the Author permits you to copy, distribute and modify copies of the Work.
In addition, you may refer to the Work, talk about it, and (as dictated by "fair use") quote from it, just as you would any copyrighted material under copyright law.
Your right to operate, perform, read or otherwise interpret and/or execute the Work is unrestricted; however, you do so at your own risk, because the Work comes WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY -- see Section "NO WARRANTY" of this License below.
4. COPYING AND DISTRIBUTION.
Permission is granted to distribute, publish or otherwise present verbatim copies of the entire Source Data of the Work, in any medium, provided that full copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty, where applicable, is conspicuously published on all copies, and a copy of this License is distributed along with the Work.
Permission is granted to distribute, publish or otherwise present copies of the Object Form of the Work, in any medium, under the terms for distribution of Source Data above and also provided that one of the following additional conditions are met:
4.1. The Source Data is included in the same distribution, distributed under the terms of this License; or
4.2. A written offer is included with the distribution, valid for at least three years or for as long as the distribution is in print (whichever is longer), with a publicly-accessible address (such as a URL on the Internet) where, for a charge not greater than transportation and media costs, anyone may receive a copy of the Source Data of the Work distributed according to the section above; or
4.3. A third party's written offer for obtaining the Source Data at no cost, as described in previous paragraph above, is included with the distribution. This option is valid only if you are a non-commercial party, and only if you received the Object Form of the Work along with such an offer.
You may copy and distribute the Work either gratis or for a fee, and if desired, you may offer warranty protection for the Work.
The aggregation of the Work with other works that are not based on the Work, to form a Collective Work, does not bring the other works in the scope of the License; nor does such aggregation void the terms of the License for the Work.
5. MODIFICATION.
Permission is granted to modify or sample from a copy of the Work, producing a Derivative Work, and to distribute the Derivative Work under the terms described in the section for distribution above, provided that the following terms and requirements are met:
5.1. Appropriate authorship credit is given: for the differences between the Work and the new Derivative Work, authorship is attributed to you, while the material sampled or used from the Work remains attributed to the original Author; appropriate notice must be included with the new work indicating the nature and the dates of any modifications of the Work made by you. In particular, if the Derivative Work is a computer program, you must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.
5.2. If the format of the Source Data is changed for the new Derivative Work, then, the previous authorship informations must be kept, in an appropriated way, with the new Derivative Work, together with all other informations contained inside the previous Source Data that are relevant for the purpose of this License.
5.3. You do not modify Not-modificable Sections of the Work.
This requirement does not apply to sections of Derivative Works which are or became programming code of a computer program, unless the computer program is meant to show, play or otherwise perform the Not-modificable Sections of the Work; in the latter case, what the computer program show, play or otherwise perform as a Not-modificable Sections of the Work is subject to this requirement.
Unless otherwise specified, Not-modificable Sections of the Work can be translated into a different human language.
5.4. You change the name of a modified Section of the Work and/or to the file containing a modified Section of the Work, if so explicitly requested.
5.5. Required Sections of the Work are kept, unless the Derivative Work contains less then a Substantial part of the original work and simultaneously that the recognizeable portion of the original work is less then a Substantial portion of the Derivative Work.
This requirement does not apply to sections of Derivative Works which are or became programming code of a computer program, unless the computer program is meant to show, play or otherwise perform the Required Section of the Work; in the latter case, what the computer program show, play or otherwise perform as a Required Section of the Work is subject to this requirement.
5.6. If the new, Derivative Work, is a computer program, if it normally reads commands interactively when run, you must cause it, when started running for such interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this License.
As an exception, if the computer program itself is interactive but does not normally print such an announcement, your Derivative Work is not required to print an announcement.
5.7. The new, Derivative Work is published under the terms of this License, or otherwise under the terms of any one of the following licenses, provided that the transition is made accordingly with the terms and conditions of this Hybrid General License and coherently with the new elected license:
5.7.1. The "GNU General Public License" as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
5.7.2. The "GNU Free Documentation License", Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
5.7.3. The "GNU Lesser General Public License" as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
5.7.4. The "Design Science License", as published by Michael Stutz <stutz@dsl.org> in year 2001 (available at <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html>).
5.7.5. The "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License", as published by Creative Commons at <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/>, either version 1.0 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
You may add Not-modificable Sections, but you cannot change into Not-modificable Sections the sections of the Work that originally do not have such restriction.
You can add Required Sections only if your addition to the Work is more then the recognizeable portion of the original work.
6. LICENSE OPTIONS.
The Author of an Hybrid General License Work may elect certain options by appending language to the reference to or copy of the license. These options are considered part of the license instance and must be included with the license (or its incorporation by reference) in derived works.
6.1. The Author might require that the Derivative Work is given a new name, so that its name or title cannot be confused with the original work, or with a version of the original work, in any way. To accomplish this, add the phrase "Derivative Works are required to have a different name, without the explicit permission of the copyright holder." to the license reference or copy. A Derivative Work, with a different name, can have this option removed.
6.2. If the distribution and/or use of the Work is restricted in certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the Work under this License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this License.
6.3. The original Author who places the Work under this License may allow the incorporation of different works with incompatible conditions and/or requiremens. To accomplish this, add the phrase "This license is applyed to the whole Work, unless otherwise specified." to the license reference or copy. This option can be removed inside a Derivative Work which does not incorporate such other incompatible works.
7. NO RESTRICTIONS.
You may not impose any further restrictions on the Work or any of its Derivative Works beyond those restrictions described in this License.
8. ACCEPTANCE.
Copying, distributing or modifying the Work (including but not limited to sampling from the Work in a new work) indicates acceptance of these terms. If you do not follow the terms of this License, any rights granted to you by the License are null and void. The copying, distribution or modification of the Work outside of the terms described in this License is expressly prohibited by law.
If for any reason, conditions are imposed on you that forbid you to fulfill the conditions of this License, you may not copy, distribute or modify the Work at all.
If any part of this License is found to be in conflict with the law, that part shall be interpreted in its broadest meaning consistent with the law, and no other parts of the License shall be affected.
9. NO WARRANTY.
THE WORK IS PROVIDED "AS IS," AND COMES WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
10. DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS WORK, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
It should be possible to link to this page also with the name hybrid_general_license.htm
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