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proposal: Create a go specific package level open source license #22799

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AlexRouSg opened this issue Nov 18, 2017 · 4 comments
Closed

proposal: Create a go specific package level open source license #22799

AlexRouSg opened this issue Nov 18, 2017 · 4 comments
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@AlexRouSg
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I am in the process of writing some go packages which I would like to open source, however this has the problem of selecting a license.

I would want strong copyleft if someone were to change my packages and only my packages, so they can use it in closed source programs. The best license I found so far is MPL v2.0, but this has a loophole, it is a per file license. So someone could do something like the following and not release their codes:

// mpl.go
package MPL
func MyMPLFunc() {
    MyNotMPLFunc()
}

// not_mpl.go
package MPL
func MyNotMPLFunc() {
....
}

So I propose go should have it's own license that works on the package level.
@gopherbot gopherbot added this to the Proposal milestone Nov 18, 2017
@cznic
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cznic commented Nov 18, 2017

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe the license used by Go, as well as by many 3rd party Go packages, is compatible with use in closed source programs just fine basically by simply adding the original text of the LICENSE file somewhere visibly with[in] the proprietary product.

@bradfitz
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Sorry, but Go is not going to be creating its own open source license.

There are too many already.

@AlexRouSg
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But there isn't one that assures improvements/changes to one's package would be released and at the same time allows for closed source usage. I feel like many packages would benefit from such a license since choosing one or the other is a very difficult choice.

@ianlancetaylor
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@AlexRouSg It's a fine idea but this is not the place for it. To draft a new license you need a lawyer. We are programmers. And there is nothing Go-specific about the idea.

@golang golang locked and limited conversation to collaborators Nov 19, 2018
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@bradfitz @cznic @ianlancetaylor @AlexRouSg @gopherbot