ANNOUNCE: ComponentSoftware RCS Version 1.0 (shareware)
Hi Kent,
although I am not allied with ComponenentSoftware I have downloaded their
RCS Version 1.0 and testrun it on my Windows 95 machine. I do like it!
More importantly, I believe that - though it may be based on GNU RCS - it
does add significant value of its own. The GNU portion is clearly marked as
GNUXXX.dll. In short, I believe that the following sections of the GNU
Public License apply in this case:
"(...) If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the
Program,
and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in
themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those
sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you
distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based
on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of
this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the
entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote
it.(..)"
"(...) In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the
Program
with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of
a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under
the scope of this License.(...)"
"(...)Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest
your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to
exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or
collective works based on the Program.(...)"
I'm no lawyer, nor do I believe that GNU intended their Copyleft to be
interpreted in a way that would discourage small, independent commercial
units from profiting by adding value to GNU tools, and instead require they
equip themselves with a legal department to interpret and argue the GNU
license in detail. As a supporter of GNU (in spirit if not in practice) for
many years I think that their expressed purpose was to prevent people from
monopolizing their software and turning it into something they didn't
intend it to be.
As far as I'm concerned, I'm glad Component Software added the
functionality they did to RCS. It makes RCS usable for me under Windows 95.
I think they did a good job and if they're not being sponsored by some
hardware manufacturer or educational institutions they have to keep their
bills paid somehow, right?
Elan
