[Mimedefang] GPLv3

[David F. Skoll]

Martin Blapp wrote:

> Exactly for the same reason the FreeBSD people have. If we have a licence
> problem somewhere in our own ports tree, it would be horrible to have
> the licence invalidated for all other GPLv3 packages.

That can't happen, at least not from my reading of GPLv3.  Let's say you
are using package "foo" and violate its GPLv3.  I certainly would not consider
your license to use MIMEDefang to be invalidated.

> Another part is the Tivoization. Our customers have the whole source
> tree available, but we don't want to have local changes on the customer
> side without proper integration. We update the mimedefang-filter config
> automatically if there are any new changes (and overwrite local customer
> changes in principle.) If we aren't allowed to do this anymore, we really
> have a problem. Updating will be horrible then.

But what in GPLv3 forbids this?  We give out the source code to CanIt
(although it is *not* open source) and we allow customers to modify it.
However, we have a basic understanding: If you modify the source, we
don't need to support you.  And that has worked well.  Our customers who
need support don't mess with the source, while those who are technically
competent and want customization can.

Also, a well-designed system will split local customizations out from
the core code so that customers' local modifications survive upgrades.

Regards,

David.