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Hello,
I have submitted the Falcon package for review and inclusion at
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=428603
I will clear the rpmlint report later today.
The Falcon Programming Language is released under FPLL: this is mainly
an Apache2 license modified to extend the openness of the license to
the embedding application and to the scripts. Here I am submitting the
license to fedora-legal for approval.
When I wrote the language, I searched around for a suitable license,
mainly looking at other programming languages as Python and Ruby. I
found there was too many gray areas about using the scripting languge
as a scripting engine in foreign applications, and also the byproduct
of the system (precompiled scripts) was left in a "undeclared state"
which I didn't like. Even the script themselves, which are written in
a certain language on which the copyright-copyleft extends, are often
left in an undeclared state by those licenses.
As I wanted more clarity and more explicit freedom for my users, I
wrote the FPLL thinking at the apllication writers and at the
applications embedding falcon as a scripting engine. Of all the open
source licenses I checked, APACHE 2 was giving the guarantees I wanted
both to Falcon and to their users, just it didn't cover "embedding"
and "scripts"; so I used it and just extended it to scripts and
embedding applications.
I have started the OSI registration process, in the sense that I have
asked for a legal advice of an accredited lawyer in my country, and I
am waiting its relation to submit it to OSI.
The license commentary (my intention) is here:
http://www.falconpl.org/?page_id=license_comment
and the text of the license is here:
http://www.falconpl.org/?page_id=license
I include the text of the two documents here below:
Dear Reader,
First of all, thanks for considering using The Falcon Language for
Your job, or to embed it into Your application, or to use it for any
other reason. The Falcon Programming Language License explains what
You are allowed to do with Falcon and what You are supposed (and
allowed) not to do. Since the legal jargon may be cryptic, You are
provided here with a little resume of the License. It is important
that You read and accept the License, as this resume hasn't any legal
valence, and is provided only for the reason to express clarifications
and examples that cannot find their place in the formal document.
The License grants You the rights to use the Source code of Falcon and
its various components in any way; You can study it, You can copy it,
You can modify it, and You can even sell it, but You can't change the
license under which it is distributed: even if You sell it, You have
to provide the customers with the source code of Falcon and to grant
them the same rights You have on it.
The License also grants Your copyrights and intellectual rights for
any modification or addition You may want to apply to Falcon. In case
or addition and modifications, the License binds You to provide the
user with the information that the original program, that is Falcon,
was modified by You and what are the changes or the additions that You
applied.
Also, even if You can freely distribute, or even charge a fee, for
Your derived work, You MUST apply the Falcon Programming Language
License to Your modifications, and distribute them under the same
terms. In other words, Your modifications, if made public, must be
provided or available in source code.
The license also grants You the right to embed Falcon in any
application. Here You are granted the right to pick the terms and
licenses You prefer, and to distribute Your embedding application
without providing its source code. Even if significant portions of
Falcon are in line functions, and even if You decide to statically
link Falcon in Your application, this doesn't make it a "Derivative
Work" of it: Your Embedding application is free to embed Falcon "as
is" as it wish, without any requirements in terms of source
distribution. You can also modify Falcon for Your specific needs and
THEN embed Your modified version; the modified version of Falcon is
under Falcon License, and must be made available in source code (or be
proposed as a Contribution to the Falcon Committee), but Your
Embedding application can still be distributed under Your preferred
terms. The License has only a requirement that is demanded on Your
Embedding application: You HAVE to state somewhere (in a place that
CAN possibly be seen by the average user) that You are embedding
Falcon and the reason for that. In example, You may state "ProgramX
uses the Falcon Programming Language to automatize the Gamma procedure".
About the scripts, which are more or less what a scripting language is
for, You are granted the right to apply the license You prefer. As
Falcon is also a script "compiler", You may even retain from
distributing the script sources, and apply closed-source license to
Your script-based application or to the scripts that are embedded in
Your embedding application. However, if You don't distribute the
script sources, You are again required to state somewhere in Your
documentation or where the user can read it that You are using
"Falcon", and more or less why You are doing it. For a pure Falcon
application, You can just state "This application is written in
Falcon". In example, if You use Falcon to drive a web site, and You
don't want Your site visitors to ever see Your scripts, You have to
put somewhere a reading like "Powered with Falcon"; doesn't have to be
a n-inch banner on Your home page, You may also have just a small
reading in a secondary page.
What You cannot do is to claim that any thing You learnt from Falcon
is Yours: especially, You are forbidden to patent any element that is
found in Falcon. Another thing that You can't do is to sell a Falcon
based product as if it were "completely" Yours, forgetting to cite,
even in a very small reading, the fact that Falcon is in. Finally, a
thing that the License prevents You from doing is to put the blame for
failures on Falcon: the product is provided as-is, without any
warranty. It's up to You to test if it is suitable to solve Your
problems, and if a Falcon based application can be sold and granted as
"working" to Your customers. If that application breaks, whether
there's a problem with Falcon or not, You can't issue any claim on the
Falcon contributors.
Be kind on the Open Source Community: they have already made a lot for
You even if You don't know them (and even if they don't know You).
Best regards,
Giancarlo Niccolai
Falcon Programming Language License
Version 1.0, February 2005
http://www.falconpl.org/?page_id=license
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