[software] Rapport2

[Dave Rolsky]

On Mon, 27 Oct 2008, Bob F wrote:

> We all have our preferences in languages, but I think this should play a 
> minor role in our thinking.  The maintainability of code depends not 
> just on the language but also on the various frameworks and libraries 
> employed, and of course the design of the software itself.  I would 
> guess that language is the least of those issues, unless the language 
> being used is completely inappropriate for the task at hand.  Moreover, 
> the ability of a particular programmer to be productive in a particular 
> language or framework depends so much on that programmer's experience 
> with said system.

I agree, thus my point that Rapport is in _modern_ Perl.

I do, however, know that there are Perl Foundation people involved in this 
list. I can only assume they'd prefer a Perl solution, all other things 
being equal.

>
>> (The other is that the
>> licensing is completely unclear, because patchers must send changes
>> under an AGPLv3-incompatible license, yet the project is AGPLv3'd.  It
>> makes no sense, and would make it impossible for me and many others to
>> contribute.)
>
> This, I believe, is a more serious issue.  I noticed that problem
> too.  Actually, I can't figure out what they're doing:
> 	http://civicrm.org/licensing
> Their lack of explanation doesn't help either.  It's just "here's
> licensing terms to apply to your code when you give it to us."  I
> don't trust this, and I would not want to donate code under these
> terms. My guess is that when you license to them under the Artistic
> License, that allows them to build proprietary forks with your code,
> if they wish.

That's the Academic Free License. The AFL gives them the right to 
reclicense the code in the future _and_ to create proprietary derivatives, 
from my reading.

Of course, the sane way to do this is to simply ask contributors to assign 
copyrights to you when the contribute.


-dave

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