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Re: Could /Documentation/technical/commit-graph.txt be relicensed under a permissive license?

From
Derrick Stolee <stolee@gmail.com>
Date
Dec 10, 2019, 20:38 UTC
Message-ID
<70575b23-6adb-a29b-8df8-f9099f86eb0e@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To
<xmqqimmoq6vw.fsf@gitster-ct.c.googlers.com>
On 12/10/2019 3:10 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> KOLANICH <kolan_n@mail.ru> writes:

I don't appear to have the original message? Perhaps it was directly addressed to Junio?

Show 10 quoted lines
>> ... the license of git itself is GPL, so I am not
>> allowed to use these 2 files to create an own permissive-licensed
>> tool reading this file. 
> 
> It is a wrong conclusion, isn't it?
> 
> GPL copyright protects the expression of the document, but the
> copyright protects only the expression, and does not protect the
> underlying format itself and the idea behind it.  So I do not see a
> need to relicense the documentation text at all.
(Insert "I am not a lawyer" warning.)

I think this is the correct interpretation. One can interact with binary files as you want. In fact, there are likely privately licensed products that interact with Git's pack-files even though their format documentation is under GPL.

What _could_ be problematic is repeating the documentation directly in another permissive-licensed repository.

Thanks, -Stolee

Previous: Junio C HamanoNext: Jeff King
Message 3 of 11 in “Could /Documentation/technical/commit-graph.txt be relicensed under a permissive license?”
  1. KOLANICHDec 10, 2019
  2. Junio C HamanoDec 10, 2019
  3. Derrick StoleeDec 10, 2019
  4. Jeff KingDec 10, 2019
  5. Derrick StoleeDec 10, 2019
  6. Ed MasteDec 10, 2019
  7. Junio C HamanoDec 10, 2019
  8. KOLANICHDec 11, 2019
  9. Johannes SchindelinDec 11, 2019
  10. brian m. carlsonDec 13, 2019
  11. Jakub NarebskiDec 15, 2019

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

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