SQL-Ledger license change [LWN.net]

The SQL-Ledger project, a web-based accounting system, has announced a license change. "We made it into slashdot again because we changed the license for version 2.8.0 to an open source license. A copy of the license can be viewed here. The license did not take away the freedom to make changes nor did it take away the freedom to redistribute however it took away the freedom to just rip out the logo replace it with something else and call it another program. The license was misinterpreted by the geeks on slashdot and I even had hatemail sent to me, how dare I change the license. I can't repeat what was said because it was not pretty."

(Log in to post comments)

SQL-Ledger license change

Posted Apr 17, 2007 18:08 UTC (Tue) by ballombe (subscriber, #9523) [Link]

Reading the license, I am not impressed. I am glad it was reverted to the GPL. (Not that this excuses hatemail though)

The license is extremely poorly worded and sloppy. It does not even explicitly allow redistribution.
The license claims to be an 'Open Source License' without being OSI-certified.

I 1) cause extra liability to the users.
I 2) useless
II 1) useless
II 2) 'original work' is not defined
II 3) useless
II 4) 'standard package' is not defined; What happen if SQL-ledger site is down ?
II 5) not a condition
II 6) forbidding logo change is non-free. 'another program' is meaningless. The intend is probably non-free in nature.

A good point though: the disclaimer of warranty is lower-case.

SQL-Ledger license change

Posted Apr 17, 2007 18:29 UTC (Tue) by einhverfr (guest, #44407) [Link]

II 6) also binds you to his Logo terms and conditions (a trademark issue).

SQL-Ledger license change

Posted Apr 21, 2007 23:05 UTC (Sat) by einhverfr (guest, #44407) [Link]

Also I (Mr Travers) was named in the rant which has since been removed, so I feel like I should respond to one possible confusion.

The only email that I sent out was a request for translators (whose work was still licensed under the GPL) to clarify whether people could redistribute their translations with the software. I was never involved in hate-mail, and I said that it was Dieter's moral right to choose whatever license he wanted for his own code and that the other contributors should take this as an opportunity to decide whether they wanted their work distributed under this new license or not. The replies I got were about 50/50.

Mr Murtagh's email was more harsh but still not hatemail. His support account had been cancelled without warning or refund due to his participation in the project, and I do not assume that he was alone in that regard. He was upset and rightly so. But I didn't think he crossed the line in his email.

SQL-Ledger license change

Posted Apr 17, 2007 18:24 UTC (Tue) by agittins (guest, #44713) [Link]

What Ballombe said, but additionally... The maintainer changed the
license silently, and actively censored the mailing lists preventing
anyone from revealing the change to the community. There were also
contributed translation files still licensed under the GPL in the new
relicensed release, for which permission to relicense had not been
granted (or sought).

I wrote the article that got the /. submission, there is more to the
story than that which is revealed on the SQL-Ledger website.
My article is here:

http://www.purple.dropbear.id.au/sql-ledger-license-chang...

Essentially the new license appeared to be an attempt to prevent future
forks like http://www.LedgerSMB.org/

SQL-Ledger license change

Posted Apr 17, 2007 18:27 UTC (Tue) by einhverfr (guest, #44407) [Link]

I would only add that since the license was not GPL-compatable, and since the translations were still under the GPL, I think it *did* take away anyone's right including that of DWS to distribute the software. Dieter was factually incorrect on that point.

SQL-Ledger license change

Posted Apr 17, 2007 22:03 UTC (Tue) by job (subscriber, #670) [Link]

"Ripping out the logo and calling it something else" is called forking and is pretty central to open source software. The statement that the license the software was relicensed under was an open source one must be completely false, to put it kindly.

SQL-Ledger license change

Posted Apr 18, 2007 8:11 UTC (Wed) by raphael (subscriber, #5769) [Link]

SQL Ledger is a fake open source program. It has a so called open licence, but the whole process of development and information is closed and tightly controlled by a single guy who discourage any effort to improve on the software. The result is a closed software with bugs, spagetti code and security holes.

There are other web based alternatives worth a lot more.

SQL-Ledger license change

Posted Apr 18, 2007 8:21 UTC (Wed) by terber (subscriber, #3311) [Link]

There are other web based alternatives worth a lot more.

Which (besides the interesting forks "Lx-Office ERP" and "SMB Ledger")?

SQL-Ledger license change

Posted Apr 21, 2007 23:08 UTC (Sat) by einhverfr (guest, #44407) [Link]

Most of the others I have seen (WebERP and the like) use MySQL (often 4.x) as their backend. I would not recommend using MySQL for this sort of task as it isn't really the right tool for the job.

This is one area where there aren't any applications I would consider of very high quality in the open source world and just as many bad apps in the proprietary world. Hopefully we on the LedgerSMB project can do better but it may take a year or so to get the codebase straight.