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ethereum / aleth

Aleth – Ethereum C++ client, tools and libraries
GNU General Public License v3.0
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Get to clarity on licensing and copyright #3218

Closed bobsummerwill closed 6 years ago

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

From @bobsummerwill on May 25, 2016 18:40

Greetings, cpp-ethereum contributors!

As you are probably aware, efforts were made in 2015 to clarify the licensing of various components within Ethereum, namely liberalizing the core to encourage the broadest possible adoption for Ethereum. We never completed that effort.

The licensing for cpp-ethereum itself has flip-flopped a few times and we aren't in a particular clear state right at the moment. To my knowledge we have never had a Contributor License Agreement (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contributor_License_Agreement) as is standard on many open source projects.

The purpose of a CLA is to ensure that the guardian of a project's outputs has the necessary ownership or grants of rights over all contributions to allow them to distribute under the chosen licence.

With more and more projects looking to build on top of Ethereum, it is important that we have appropriate licensing and most important CLARITY of licensing :-)

In particular, we have an opportunity for Ethereum to become a foundational piece of Hyperledger, following Vitalik's very successful presentation to the Hyperledger Tech Steering Committee in April, but that cannot happen while we have ambiguity of licensing and copyright.

How fantastic would it be if Ethereum could become the basis of a "Linux-like-techbase for blockchain" which could be used as a de-facto standard for both public and private/consortium chains?

Anyway - first things first!

Before anything, though, I want to open the communication lines with all the contributors, so that you can be part of this process to get us to "known status". I will include you all on this issue.

If you have contributed to cpp-ethereum, please could I ask that you add yourself to the Pirate Pad below with your Github login, name and your preferred e-mail address which you can be contacted at? If you want to use a pseudonym, that is fine. I just need to be able to talk to you all for now :-)

http://piratepad.net/g9A0NTQjcI

Thanks, everyone!

SCRUB THAT!

Using the Wiki instead now - https://github.com/ethereum/webthree-umbrella/wiki/Contributors

Copied from original issue: ethereum/webthree-umbrella#530

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

@gavofyork, @chfast, @debris, @chriseth, @CJentzsch, @LefterisJP, @arkpar, @subtly, @yann300, @winsvega, @azawlocki, @LianaHus, @gluk256, @programmerTim, @caktux, @bobsummerwill, @guanqun, @giact, @cubedro, @danielhams, @obscuren, @xcthulhu, @Genoil, @onepremise, @josephyzhou, @CodeShark, @vbuterin, @msimovic, @alexvandesande, @autolycus, @jesuscript, @Mashatan, @wanderer, @SharpCoiner, @imifos, @Gustav-Simonsson, @fjl, @AronVanAmmers, @frewsxcv, @ivan1986, @nicksavers, @psalami, @jorisbontje, @bargst, @nejucomo, @austonst, @dreid93, @tymat, @etherninja

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

@artur-kink, @kaustavha, @dennismckinnon, @ryepdx, @pompomJuice, @larspensjo, @chulsupark, @kejace, @cdetrio, @jgabios, @eco, @heavyplayer2, @Erkan-Yilmaz, @sebilasse, @vipjeffreylee, @MelissaCole, @mquandalle, @holiman, @zelig, @programonauta, @csibbitt, @xeroc

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

From @frewsxcv on May 25, 2016 19:0

I don't have enough time to read too much about this, but I agree to license my contributions under whatever license you want (I prefer CC0).

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

And more people from after the webthree-umbrella split: @smartbitcoin, @mancoast, @kejace, @fossilet, @zant95, @larspensjo, @gcolvin, @SharpCoiner, @rainbeam, @moneroexamples, @area, @Legogris, @redsquirrel, @VoR0220, @Denton-L, @pipermerriam, @uberlaufer, @ethers, @ssonicblue, @raineorshine, @rainbeam, @michaltrzesimiech, @4tXJ7f, @BrainArchitect, @AlwaysBCoding, @MrChico, @OlegIakovlev, @mario02423, @u2.

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

Hey @frewsxcv, Please can you add your Github login, name and e-mail address into http://piratepad.net/g9A0NTQjcI? That's all I need for now. Thanks!

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

From @VoR0220 on May 25, 2016 20:21

I'm of the opinion (for whatever my opinion is worth) that Ethereum should stay in the MIT/GPL realm. Just my personal belief. That's all.

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

There is no real consideration of moving to anything other than mainstream OSI-approved licenses, @VoR0220.

That would either mean sticking with GPLv3 or moving to a permissive license. Originally only MIT was considered, but multiple knowledgable people have said to me .... "For the love of god, go with Apache 2.0 not MIT" because of the patent-protection clause.

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

From @LefterisJP on May 25, 2016 23:20

Those of us who worked for the foundation, signed a document regarding this at some point ... what happened to that document?

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

Ahem ... yeah, @LefterisJP. @chriseth has been looking around the Berlin office for that paperwork, with no success so far. Which is a bit embarrassing, isn't it? :-) So we'll probably have to do it all again. I'm also unsure whether said paperwork ever made it out to the non-Foundation contributors. @gavofyork would know best, I suppose.

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

From @giact on May 26, 2016 7:52

I am a non-Foundation contributor, and I can confirm that in August 2015 I received and signed a permission to switch from GPL to MIT

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

Good to know, @giact. Thanks!

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

From @cubedro on May 26, 2016 8:54

me too. I signed it and sent it to Kelly Becker.

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

From @guanqun on May 27, 2016 5:37

Added to the privatepad, as someone mentioned, I also agree to license my contributions under whatever license you want.

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

POKE POKE, everybody, especially you ex and current Foundation folk! Thanks.

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

From @moneroexamples on May 28, 2016 0:42

I just added myself. But used pseudonym instead of real name. Hope its ok.

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

Greetings, everybody!

See http://piratepad.net/g9A0NTQjcI, where I have now added entries for everybody. Just need you to add your names and preferred email.

Foundation and ex-Foundation people - please can you guys reply! The non-Foundation people are kicking our arses for this. The main bit I am missing for the internal people is your preferred PERSONAL e-mail addresses. Thanks!

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

Greetings, everybody!

I have had a boring few hours gathering some of this information myself, to save you the effort, and I now think that I have nearly all the contributor contact information which we need.

I have also looked in more detail at the specific repos, and am able to REMOVE various of the people I had originally tagged here, because their contributions have been to Solidity or other repos which WILL NOT end up in the reconstituted cpp-ethereum repo.

We now have 80 people on the list, 36 with over 100 LOCs and 44 with under 100 LOCs:

See https://github.com/ethereum/webthree-umbrella/wiki/Contributors.

So what am I still missing? I am missing information on the following contributors. If they are you, or if you have any information on these individuals (especially e-mail addresses), please do let me know, thanks!

NOTE - No need for real names at this stage. Not sure if those will become problematic later? We'll deal with that when if/when is a problem.

Also, please do check your own entry. I might have old or incorrect information for you, if you didn't supply it on the earlier Pirate Pad yourself.

Best wishes!

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

From @programonauta on June 7, 2016 1:20

@bobsummerwill I filled the PiratePad, but my name isn't there. Name: Ricardo de Azevedo Brandao e-mail: rbrandao.br@gmail.com

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

Hey @programonauta!

Added you back. Sorry about that. While rebuilding the more minimal and correct list here, both yourself and @sebilasse fell victim to being the ONLY people who had made contributions only to files in the root directory of webthree-umbrella, but not to any of the sub-modules, or to cpp-ethereum pre-split.

My optimization had a bug :-) Thanks for the bug report!

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

From @mario02423 on June 7, 2016 4:23

Hello,

Pretty sure all I did was fix a typo or some incidental grammar error… I don't see my name on the list, which is fine. :) I trust you all are well, and thanks for your efforts!

/jm (@mario02423)

On Monday, June 6, 2016, Bob Summerwill notifications@github.com wrote:

Hey @programonauta https://github.com/programonauta!

Added you back. Sorry about that. While rebuilding the more minimal and correct list here, both yourself and @sebilasse https://github.com/sebilasse fell victim to being the ONLY people who had made contributions only to files in the root directory of webthree-umbrella, but not to any of the sub-modules, or to cpp-ethereum pre-split.

My optimization had a bug :-) Thanks for the bug report!

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/ethereum/webthree-umbrella/issues/530#issuecomment-224158010, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe/ASYYCl_MOWxoDfYPosMUbblh_hSgM0V8ks5qJOCLgaJpZM4Im2BU .

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

From @msimovic on June 7, 2016 11:15

Hey, I am msimovic. Codeshark is Eric Lombrozo. I know a few others on that list but names escape me right now. On Jun 6, 2016 9:14 PM, "Bob Summerwill" notifications@github.com wrote:

Greetings, everybody!

I have had a boring few hours gathering some of this information myself, to save you the effort, and I now think that I have nearly all the contributor contact information which we need.

I have also looked in more detail at the specific repos, and am able to REMOVE various of the people I had originally tagged here, because their contributions have been to Solidity or other repos which WILL NOT end up in the reconstituted cpp-ethereum repo.

We now have 80 people on the list, 36 with over 100 LOCs and 44 with under 100 LOCs:

See https://github.com/ethereum/webthree-umbrella/wiki/Contributors.

So what am I still missing? I am missing information on the following contributors. If they are you, or if you have any information on these individuals (especially e-mail addresses), please do let me know, thanks!

\ NOTE - No need for real names at this stage. Not sure if those will become problematic later? We'll deal with that when if/when is a problem.**

Also, please do check your own entry. I might have old or incorrect information for you, if you didn't supply it on the earlier Pirate Pad yourself.

Best wishes!

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/ethereum/webthree-umbrella/issues/530#issuecomment-224135026, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe/ABctMrwBqVajK0ZHD5DwFERBYIEk8vAMks5qJMXygaJpZM4Im2BU .

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

From @area on June 7, 2016 12:52

My name and email address are incorrect - I'm happy to edit the wiki, but am concerned about simply deleting the details that are already there, which presumably belong to someone and came from somewhere. I didn't fill out the PiratePad (apologies!).

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

Hey @mario02423, It looks like your contribution was to Solidity (https://github.com/ethereum/solidity/commits?author=mario02423), so would not be in-scope for the re-constituted cpp-ethereum which we are considering for re-licensing. Good luck - no more badgering for you :-)

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

@area I gathered the data (wrongly!), so please either just edit the Wiki yourself or let me know the name/e-mail to use, and I will update accordingly.

@msimovic What e-mail address should I use for you?

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

From @Souptacular on June 7, 2016 18:59

Is @wanderer someone who has not given their real name? I know who they are and can ask them if they want to give their real name or not (most of us know them).

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

@Souptacular already added.

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

From @azawlocki on June 7, 2016 21:4

Hi Bob,

azawlocki is me, the name and the e-mail are correct. I contributed to the evmjit repository only.

On 7 June 2016 at 03:14, Bob Summerwill notifications@github.com wrote:

Greetings, everybody!

I have had a boring few hours gathering some of this information myself, to save you the effort, and I now think that I have nearly all the contributor contact information which we need.

I have also looked in more detail at the specific repos, and am able to REMOVE various of the people I had originally tagged here, because their contributions have been to Solidity or other repos which WILL NOT end up in the reconstituted cpp-ethereum repo.

We now have 80 people on the list, 36 with over 100 LOCs and 44 with under 100 LOCs:

See https://github.com/ethereum/webthree-umbrella/wiki/Contributors.

So what am I still missing? I am missing information on the following contributors. If they are you, or if you have any information on these individuals (especially e-mail addresses), please do let me know, thanks!

\ NOTE - No need for real names at this stage. Not sure if those will become problematic later? We'll deal with that when if/when is a problem.**

Also, please do check your own entry. I might have old or incorrect information for you, if you didn't supply it on the earlier Pirate Pad yourself.

Best wishes!

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/ethereum/webthree-umbrella/issues/530#issuecomment-224135026, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe/ADMwU3Ge_TIxybjH7RiHlNMWDPyu1x0kks5qJMXzgaJpZM4Im2BU .

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

Thanks, @azawlocki.

164 times :-) Thank you! https://github.com/ethereum/cpp-ethereum/commits?author=azawlocki

The changes occurred before the EVMJIT repo was split off.

Looking at https://github.com/ethereum/evmjit/graphs/contributors, it's all the same people.

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

From @chfast on June 7, 2016 21:34

This is because the git subtree push/pull crap. I'm thinking about cleaning this up (by history rewrite).

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

Commented to @chfast's post at https://gitter.im/ethereum/cpp-ethereum?at=57574500c2a6e42f7e994d36, to avoid a discussion chain here which spams everybody with notifications.

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

FYI .... this is a useful site:

Versus:

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

Hey @msimovic - please could you add an e-mail address for yourself to https://github.com/ethereum/webthree-umbrella/wiki/Contributors? Thanks!

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

GREETINGS EVERYBODY!

So, as of Saturday 11th June we nearly all the information.

See https://github.com/ethereum/webthree-umbrella/wiki/Contributors.

I am only missing e-mail addresses for the following:

bobsummerwill commented 8 years ago

@/all OK - MY C++ RE-LICENSING PROPOSAL ARTICLES ARE FINALLY READY

See also https://reddit.com/r/ethereum, but let's have any discussion on Gitter. Thanks, everyone!

Next step will be to give you all a few days to look through the articles and provisional "paperwork", and raise any objections or issues or thoughts you may have. And then within a few days I hope to be in a position to start contacting you individually and to get either e-mail or DocuSign or paper signatures (TBD, still talking to IP lawyer).

NOTE: I tagged more people on this issue than will end up being contributors to the codebase being relicensed, so if you only contributed to solidity, or mix, or web3.js or alethzero, you might not be in this list of people who I believe are the contributors for the code we are looking to relicense:

https://github.com/ethereum/webthree-umbrella/wiki/Contributors

Best wishes!

axic commented 6 years ago

@bobsummerwill while this was stalled last time, is there a central place for all the documentation we had? Do we have a good understanding of who was missing from agreeing to the change? Perhaps times have changed.

bobsummerwill commented 6 years ago

Hey @axic.

Christian Vomel was CC-ed on all the paperwork, and I have copies in Google Docs too.

Here is a link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8s2kfOfQTr0X2dBSVI4Q1B5eUk

And the master spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1i0U0hsLZui7sk-hv60tzWy2jY6ZUslciq37N_Q5KDao/edit?usp=sharing

If @gavofyork and @debris signed then we would have ~95% of commits consenting. We would need to factor out ethash into an optimal component in some form, because of @xcthulhu's objection, and there would be some further chasing up and cleaning up, but we could proceed with the relicensing as originally proposed.

I still think there is some utility here for resource-constrained devices, if nothing else. My original motivation :-)

Also of note is that Status.im (and presumably other mobile apps) still cannot ship in the App Store, because of incompatibility between the GPL and App Store terms. Which was another thing I was trying to address with this re-licensing.

axic commented 6 years ago

To read: #3 and #575

kaustavha commented 6 years ago

Hi there,

I wanted to apologize for not replying to this issue back when I was tagged and offer my 2 cents.

I made a very tiny minor change in my process of playing with the code and dont care much about my name being on the contributers list and thus didn't pay much attention to this issue. I give you and the Foundation the authority to re-license my contributions as you see fit and remove my name or required signoff for any future license related developments if needed. I think this sentiment lines up with @frewsxcv & @mario02423 and many other minor contributer, although if we get on this issue and list in time it's always nice to be part of history ;)

But I'd also like to +1 this issue and effort. I've recently started at IBM which has somewhat restrictive internal OSS regulations. Both CC0 and *GPL require 'legal approval' whereas MIT & Apache do not. This makes the process of requesting the requisite permission from management a more cumbersome & worrisome process and may hinder internal efforts on helping and promoting the eth ecosystem. I've personally switched my personal projects based on eth to use ethersjs instead of web3js due to this hoping to get more leeway and easier approval.

For other eth/sol devs

Building off my last point, the potential execution environment of the code shouldnt limit app devs. If your software does not contain or link against GPL code you dont need to use the GPL. ethersjs is a good replacement for the GPL licensed web3js and this licensing drama creates a good atmosphere for new and better libraries to pop up. If the library used directly in the project isnt copyleft youre free to go, afaik.
Gavins fork of the C++ ethereum implementation is also currently MIT licensed, commit by none other than our boy vitalik. Therefore any code a 3rd party app dev writes can be assumed to be running on the MIT licensed implementation of the EVM or containing it for testing purposes. Without the solidity compiler contained in your code, EVM bytecode or solidity code is free to use under more permissive licenses. Hmm but how did you compile those contracts? Remix, which is also MIT. But I'm not a lawyer so please correct any misconceptions I might have.

But I also find it difficult to sympathise with Bobs proclamation of SNT having trouble getting on the app store. Really? A company which ICO'd for ~$60+ mill and is now valued at $1.1bill on etherscan is having trouble hiring devs to cleanroom reimplement whatevers required and hire the lawyers to get past this legalese? They couldnt get a prototype into the appstore before the raise? Incredible! My sympathy module must be broken but I just feel like maybe, just maybe, they didnt deserve that sort of a first round raise and I welcome the scrutiny and due diligence that would bring to ICOs. I'm all for financial decentralization and the concept of SNT; hopefully they can spend some of that dough struggling like all startups have to to survive.

bobsummerwill commented 6 years ago

@kaustavha I shall be kind to you, because you are missing lots of context here.

cpp-ethereum is licensed as a mixture of LGPLv3 and GPLv3.

I put significant effort into relicensing it as Apache 2.0, contacting all contributors and gathering paperwork over the course of 5 months.

https://bobsummerwill.com/2016/07/12/ethereum-everywhere/

The relicensing failed because @gavofyork, the primary contributor did not sign. I spent several delightful hours with Gav in a Berlin pub last night. The answer is still the same. He has a duty to his shareholders.

So cpp-ethereum remains as LGPLv3/GPLv3.

Nobody needs or wants your sympathy for Status. The issue is with the Geth codebase they are using, and they are merely the first through the door on trying to ship an iOS dapp with an embedded Ethereum client. Bringing the amount that they raised to the table as a factor is crass of you.

We are discussing technical issues here, related to licensing of existing codebases.

It looks like they will be building a new client anyway, which will have Apache 2.0 licensing for the benefit of all. That doesn't help with Geth or Parity, neither of which can currently ship on iOS

bobsummerwill commented 6 years ago

"They couldn't get a prototype into the app store before the raise".

Status have had working code for 2+ years before the raise, including working iOS app. The issue is that they cannot legally RELEASE it in a final form (ie.cannot come out of Beta). That cannot be "lawyered around". Building a new client from scratch is the only alternative - barring relicensing of existing code.

And that is what they are now driven to do.

kaustavha commented 6 years ago

Thanks for the clarification! I did briefly look at your ethereum anywhere document and I agree with the general philosophy you lay out in it and I do support the relicensing effort.

Sorry if my feelings on SNT came off as crass or overly hostile and I’d like to say they’re really not directed at you. And I don’t see a point in bantering back and forth about it here.

But so what you’re saying is that in essence this relicensing effort here is unlikely to move forward? And if we need to contain an ethereum client in our code we need to either build one from scratch or await an implementation? Do you know of any implementations in the wild other than the debacle with Tron copying over code and relicensing without attribution? E.g from status? And from a legal perspective do you see any concerns with writing and releasing .sol smart contracts under an MIT license or dapps using ethersjs? Without embedding in the way status did it should be fine right?

chfast commented 6 years ago

Which part is LGPL?

bobsummerwill commented 6 years ago

@chfast "Which part is LGPL?"

I misspoke there. All of the cpp-ethereum repo is actually full GPLv3, isn't it, because everything was co-mingled.

Where there was a clear line drawn between application and library for geth, so there was a mixture of LPGL and GPL.

See https://bobsummerwill.com/2016/07/12/c-re-licensing-plan/

Content to be relicensed

The following repositories are in the process of being reorganized into a restored cpp-ethereum repository, which will be relicensed as Apache 2.0:

That will include the following applications:

Ethereum VM:

Unit-testing:

Support tools:

The following standalone repositories will also be relicensed to Apache 2.0:

The following repositories, containing the Solidity compiler and the deprecated C++ GUI applications will remain under GPLv3:

The following repository, containing the new “Remix” debugging components will remain under MIT, though we might want to consider whether that should be Apache 2.0 as well?

bobsummerwill commented 6 years ago

@kaustavha "But so what you’re saying is that in essence this relicensing effort here is unlikely to move forward?"

The relicensing effort will not be moving forward. That is correct.

"And if we need to contain an ethereum client in our code we need to either build one from scratch or await an implementation?"

For platforms whose app store is incompatible with GPL, with iOS being the primary one of note, that is correct. Neither Geth nor Parity nor cpp-ethereum are possible.

Do you know of any implementations in the wild other than the debacle with Tron copying over code and relicensing without attribution? E.g from status?

You would need to rephrase. I don't understand what you are asking.

And from a legal perspective do you see any concerns with writing and releasing .sol smart contracts under an MIT license or dapps using ethersjs? Without embedding in the way status did it should be fine right?

MIT is fine.

larspensjo commented 6 years ago

Just a nitpick, but it isn't really a relicense we are talking about? It is adding another license?

That is, it is possible to have several licenses at the same time. I don't think it is possible to remove a license retroactively.

/Lars

On Wed, Feb 21, 2018, 16:58 Bob Summerwill notifications@github.com wrote:

@kaustavha https://github.com/kaustavha "But so what you’re saying is that in essence this relicensing effort here is unlikely to move forward?"

The relicensing effort will not be moving forward. That is correct.

"And if we need to contain an ethereum client in our code we need to either build one from scratch or await an implementation?"

For platforms whose app store is incompatible with GPL, with iOS being the primary one of note, that is correct. Neither Geth nor Parity nor cpp-ethereum are possible.

Do you know of any implementations in the wild other than the debacle with Tron copying over code and relicensing without attribution? E.g from status?

You would need to rephrase. I don't understand what you are asking.

And from a legal perspective do you see any concerns with writing and releasing .sol smart contracts under an MIT license or dapps using ethersjs? Without embedding in the way status did it should be fine right?

MIT is fine.

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/ethereum/cpp-ethereum/issues/3218#issuecomment-367373768, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACTPNq57eW_lbPIBpmmsMRXaeZ0UJdlOks5tXD0mgaJpZM4Jt0GS .

kaustavha commented 6 years ago

@bobsummerwill Thanks, you answered my main concern.

As for what you wanted clarity on, I was asking if there's an in progress Ethereum implementation with more permissive licensing that you knew of.

larspensjo commented 6 years ago

Its not possible to have more than one license afaik

Why not? You can have any amount of licenses. A license is a way to give permission to others. You can give any permissions you want. If you own the source code, there is nothing that prevents you from that.

The problem is that all owners of the source code must agree to the new license.

The link you provided is for the user point of view of licensed software. That can indeed be problematic if the various libraries you use have different licenses.

lör 24 feb. 2018 kl 08:24 skrev Kaustav Haldar notifications@github.com:

@bobsummerwill https://github.com/bobsummerwill Thanks bud, you answered my main concern.

as for what you wanted clarity on, i meant is there an implementation of ethereum which some project like status created and/or others (in terms of using an eth implementation without a viral license like LGPL) can use. Tron got flack for copying over ethereums java implementation code and re-licensing it under a different license and claiming it as their own. But i think the answer is no, theres no implementations yet of eth with mit-esque open licenses. I'd like to shill mark beylins bounties platform or gitcoin to sponsor/incentivize something like this

@larspensjo https://github.com/larspensjo Its not possible to have more than one license afaik, they have to re-license. espeically if main contributers like the authors of go/rust/cpp implementations of eth say https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-licensing#License_compatibility

We can skirt around this like the JS ecosystem does by making tons of small tiny modules, but eth is .a pretty big project & i dont think this approach posible without wide consensus (maybe a daico can help?)

but Im owned by IBM and love opensource and would love to be proven wrong (but yknow what i say isnt what ibm says and i have no relation to them and this adds no liability to ibm etc etc)

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chfast commented 6 years ago

I think it's clear now. GPL stays.

bobsummerwill commented 6 years ago

Correct, @chfast. Thanks.