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c++.stlsoft - STLSoft License Question

reply John Lyon-Smith <John_member pathlink.com> writes:
Hey Matthew.   I was having a discussion the a while ago with some fellow C++
developers, and I brought up the subject of STLSoft.  "There's this really cool
set of header only templates that you can use in your projects.  Check it out."
Later, I followed up with the developers, "Did you end up using the STLSoft
stuff?"  "No, we didn't like the license."   I did some checking up, and it
seems that many folks that I've mentioned STLSoft to have ended up not using
because of this clause in your license,

(ii) Any derived versions of this software (howsoever modified)
remain the sole property of Synesis Software.

I thought I'd post a quick note to ask you to just clarify your intent with this
clause.  My guess is that you don't want folks modifying the code little, and
then passing it off as their own?  Presumeably you also want to encourage
changes to be fed back to the original source code?  Alternatively, I guess you
could be trying to dissuade people from making changes.

John Lyon-Smith
Aug 30 2004
parent "Matthew" <admin.hat stlsoft.dot.org> writes:
"John Lyon-Smith" <John_member pathlink.com> wrote in message
news:cgvsl4$2q4s$1 digitaldaemon.com...
 Hey Matthew.   I was having a discussion the a while ago with some fellow C++
 developers, and I brought up the subject of STLSoft.  "There's this really cool
 set of header only templates that you can use in your projects.  Check it out."
 Later, I followed up with the developers, "Did you end up using the STLSoft
 stuff?"  "No, we didn't like the license."   I did some checking up, and it
 seems that many folks that I've mentioned STLSoft to have ended up not using
 because of this clause in your license,

 (ii) Any derived versions of this software (howsoever modified)
 remain the sole property of Synesis Software.

 I thought I'd post a quick note to ask you to just clarify your intent with
this
 clause.  My guess is that you don't want folks modifying the code little, and
 then passing it off as their own?
Yes
 Presumeably you also want to encourage
 changes to be fed back to the original source code?
Yes
  Alternatively, I guess you
 could be trying to dissuade people from making changes.
No. This is an issue that's been brewing for a while. In the next instalment of my CUJ column I introduce a new open-source library - Open-RJ - which uses the BSD license, and I say that recls and STLSoft will both be changed over to that in their next releases. So, expect STLSoft to be under the BSD license in the next 2-3 weeks (from version 1.7.2 onwards), and please continue to recommend it to people, as an even more attractive prospect. ;) If you want to mention this change to your previous recommendees, all the better. Thanks for the heads up. Cheers Matthew
Aug 30 2004