Re: IETF and open source license compatibility

[Simon Josefsson <[e-mail]>]

Jari Arkko <[e-mail]> writes:

> Simon,
>
>>>> That's not possible because the IETF policies does not permit free
>>>> software compatible licensing on Internet drafts published by the IETF.
>>>>       
> ...
>> See RFC 5378:
>>
>>    It is also important to note that additional copyright notices are
>>    not permitted in IETF Documents except ...
> ...
>>
>> The IETF copying conditions are not compatible with free software
>> licenses (modification is not allowed), and additional copyright notices
>> are not permitted.  The vast majority of free software licenses is built
>> on the concept of copyright notices and requires preserving the
>> copyright notice.
>>   
>
> I agree that there are problematic case, but I believe I hope everyone
> realizes this is only the case if the RFC in question has
> code. Otherwise it really does not matter. Only some RFCs have code.

I don't realize that, and completely disagree.  If you want free
software authors to publish free standards (as in free software
compatible) in the IETF, the IETF needs to allow free software
compatible licensing of their work.  Right now, the IETF disallow
standards published through the IETF to be licensed under a free
software compatible license.  The only alternative for these authors is
to release their work outside of the IETF.  This may result in some free
software authors doesn't bother publishing their work in the IETF
because the licensing models are incompatible.

> I support experiments in this space, though. And it would be really
> good to get more of the open source folk participate in IETF
> specification work. There are many important open source extensions
> and protocols that fit in IETF's scope but were never documented. Even
> if source code is freely available, you could have several
> implementations, commercial vs. open source interoperability issues,
> etc.

I agree.

/Simon