Clarification on a few points

Posted Jan 31, 2012 22:42 UTC (Tue) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510)
In reply to: Clarification on a few points by dlang
Parent article: Garrett: The ongoing fight against GPL enforcement

You mean the way they can't change the advertising terms in the license on SSL because of something that happened to Eric Young 20 years ago?

Yes. This sort of stuff happens. But it's a lot more complicated than your one-sentence summary. I could discuss it for at least an hour.

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Clarification on a few points

Posted Feb 1, 2012 0:27 UTC (Wed) by josh (subscriber, #17465) [Link] (5 responses)

Considering how much pain the OpenSSL advertising clause has caused, I'd love to hear the details on that particular issue. Could you point to any details on what happened to Eric Young 20 years ago?

Clarification on a few points

Posted Feb 1, 2012 0:40 UTC (Wed) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510) [Link] (2 responses)

Eric was compelled to sign an agreement that he not touch the software again. He might be able to say why today, or not. I've not heard from him in a long time.

Clarification on a few points

Posted Feb 1, 2012 4:16 UTC (Wed) by josh (subscriber, #17465) [Link] (1 responses)

Ouch. I take it that "not touch the software again" also includes "give permission to relicense the software"?

Clarification on a few points

Posted Feb 1, 2012 4:36 UTC (Wed) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510) [Link]

Yes. Eric appears to still be with RSA although his blog is gone.

Clarification on a few points

Posted Feb 1, 2012 0:44 UTC (Wed) by nwnk (guest, #52271) [Link] (1 responses)

Eric got hired by RSA, who sold a product that directly competed with SSLeay, and who aren't the most open-source friendly people in the world. Since then the license to his code has not changed. I don't know whether that's Eric's choice or RSA's or somewhere in between, but it's sort of academic.

Clarification on a few points

Posted Feb 1, 2012 0:52 UTC (Wed) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510) [Link]

I suspect that it's more that RSA bought his company than that he just got hired. But you'd have to ask him.