With the release of the GNU3 or threeGNUS as I like to call it we are seeing FSF take a square aim at one of the greatest threats that free software has - software patents. I have spent some time looking at the New GNU and have gathered some thoughts on the matter. Before I go any further I want to say right off I bat I am a big believer in property rights and understand the importance of various forms what is currently deemed "intellectual property." I use quotes because despite the efforts to treat these rights as property, they are not. To use the term property in regard to them is it confuse what the term property means.
Despite what many people think software has only be considered patentable in the last nine years. That's right, software patents have emerged relatively recently when the Patent Office issued their Final Computer Related Examination Guidelines. There are several implications of the relative newness of software patents.
Despite the mantra that patents are ALWAYS good. It's not entirely clear that most software patents are written in a way that is clearly implementable. Patents are mostly prepared by attorneys which instead of seeking of clarity of langauge in order to convey the method or idea seek to obfusticate the idea so that they will have more flexibility on interpreting the patent at trial.
This is quite different than previous patents where the clarity of language and thought is rewarded with a 20 year monopoly. Remember at one time the US Patent office required models to accompany patents, reflecting the utilitarian nature of the US patent office. No other patent office at the time required models so in a way the US patent office did.
This utility streak has long been a cultural aspect of the US patent office which with the addition of business process patents and software patents has taken a turn for the murky.
Because of the way that software patents are currently written, it nearly impossible to really understand what a software patent may do. This is because instead of being written in clear easy to understand code, imprecise language is used. Additionally almost all software patents lack an actual implementation of the patented idea. This is done because the people wanting to do the software patenting don't want to limited in the way they enforce the patent. Actual code would mean that the invention might be circumscribed (or at least accurately described).
Let's remember what a patent is for. It's a limited monopoly granted by the state. In return the inventor is supposed to accurately describe the invention. While patent infringement certainly has occurred often enough in business, the very inaccurately described nature of software means that patents are written for ambiguity, not clarity. Software is one of the few categories where accidental infringement is quite commonplace.
Because of the very nature of software patents and the way they are currently being implemented (no pseudo code for example or actual examples of the software), it is quite commonplace for a company to assert a patent covers something when it doesn't. For example British Telecom asserting that hyperlinks were a BT patented technology when they were demonstrated in 1968 and had been written about in the late forties.
Additionally the patent office currently still doesn't have the expertise to effectively judge whether a software patent is unique and non obvious. People with the familarity with patent law and software can find better paying jobs in the private sector.
So software patents as they are currently implemented have problems. The New GNU license takes aim at this by essentially requiring companies that use GNU software, to license their patents down stream. Let's take an example.
Company A produces routers. They also currently use a modified GNU library in the device. Thy comply with the GPL and release their changes publically. In the course of operations they have developed several software patents improving reliabilty of routing etc. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say these are non obvious, true inventions (I know this is the definition of a patentable idea. However after reading and writing several software patents, I know this is often not the case). The developer of this library has decided move to the GPL3 as his license.
At this point the company has a choice. They can continue to use the old library under the GNU Public License (which will probably entail more work and money as they will be supporting the project themselves with developers) or they can chose to accept the GPL3 terms. In accepting the GPL3 terms they then are licensing their patent portfolio to the GPL developer and downstream developers as a world wide royalty free license. Please note this license is only granted to those developers who comply with the the terms of the GPL3. They in no way give up their patent or their ability to enforce their patent against other companies.
As much as I hate quoting Tony Soprano in this context but it's simple. "You want get respect, you gotta give respect." In short don't take someone else's code and then sue him with a patent you derive from it.
I think Richard Stallman has done a great job of trying to tackle the problems with software patents. It effectively balances the rights of patent holders and the rights of GPL developers. It's going to be interesting to see how it will all play out over the next year as that's how long the comment period is.
BSD
Monday, January 23, 2006
Monday, January 16, 2006
Draft of GNU 3
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Draft 1 of Version 3, 16 Jan 2006
THIS IS A DRAFT, NOT A PUBLISHED VERSION OF THE GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE.
Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
Preamble
The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. We, the Free Software Foundation, use the GNU General Public License for
most of our software; it applies also to any other program whose authors commit to using it. (Some Free Software Foundation software is covered by the GNU Lesser General Public License instead.) You can apply it to your programs, too.
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.
To protect your rights, we need to make requirements that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.
For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.
Developers that use the GNU GPL protect your rights with two steps: (1) assert copyright on the software, and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the software.
For the developers' and author's protection, the GPL clearly explains that there is no warranty for this free software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, the GPL ensures that recipients are told that what they have is not the original, so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original authors' reputations.
Some countries have adopted laws prohibiting software that enables users to escape from Digital Restrictions Management. DRM is fundamentally incompatible with the purpose of the GPL, which is to protect users' freedom; therefore, the GPL ensures that the software it covers will neither be subject to, nor subject other works to, digital restrictions from which escape is forbidden.
Finally, every program is threatened constantly by software patents. We wish to avoid the special danger that redistributors of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program proprietary. To prevent this, the GPL makes it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow.
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
0. Definitions.
A "licensed program" means any program or other work distributed under this License. The "Program" refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on the Program" means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it, either modified or unmodified. Throughout this license, the term "modification" includes, without limitation, translation and extension. A "covered work" means either the Program or any work based on the Program. Each licensee is addressed as "you".
To "propagate" a work means doing anything with it that requires permission under applicable copyright law, other than executing it on a computer or making private modifications. This includes copying, distribution (with or without modification), sublicensing, and in some countries other activities as well.
1. Source Code.
The "source code" for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it. "Object code" means any non-source version of a work.
The "Complete Corresponding Source Code" for a work in object code form means all the source code needed to understand, adapt, modify, compile, link, install, and run the work, excluding general-purpose tools used in performing those activities but which are not part of the work. For example, this includes any scripts used to control those activities, and any shared libraries and dynamically linked subprograms that the work is designed to require, such as by intimate data communication or control flow between those subprograms and other parts of the work, and interface definition files associated with the program source files.
Complete Corresponding Source Code also includes any encryption or authorization codes necessary to install and/or execute the source code of the work, perhaps modified by you, in the recommended or principal context of use, such that its functioning in all circumstances is identical to that of the work, except as altered by your modifications. It also includes any decryption codes necessary to access or unseal the work's output. Notwithstanding this, a code need be included in cases where use of the work normally implies the user already has it.
Complete Corresponding Source Code need not include anything that users can regenerate automatically from other parts of the Complete Corresponding Source Code.
As a special exception, the source code distributed need not include a particular subunit if (a) the identical subunit is normally included as an adjunct in the distribution of either a major essential component(kernel, window system, and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs or a compiler used to produce the executable or an object code interpreter used to run it, and (b) the subunit (aside from possible incidental extensions) serves only to enable use of the work with that system component or compiler or interpreter, or to implement a widely used
or standard interface, the implemention of which requires no patent license not already generally available for software under this License.
2. Basic Permissions.
All rights granted under this license are granted for the term of copyright on the Program, and are irrevocable provided the stated conditions are met. This License explicitly affirms your unlimited permission to run the Program. The output from running it is covered by this License only if the output, given its content, constitutes a work based on the Program. This License acknowledges your rights of "fair use" or other equivalent, as provided by copyright law.
This License gives unlimited permission to privately modify and run the Program, provided you do not bring suit for patent infringement against anyone for making, using or distributing their own works based on the Program.
Propagation of covered works is permitted without limitation provided it does not enable parties other than you to make or receive copies. Propagation which does enable them to do so is permitted, as "distribution", under the conditions of setal Restrictions Management.
As a free software license, this License intrinsically disfavors technical attempts to restrict users' freedom to copy, modify, and share copyrighted works. Each of its provisions shall be interpreted in light of this specific declaration of the licensor's intent. Regardless of any other provision of this license, no permission is given to distribute covered works that illegally invade users' privacy, nor for modes of distribution that deny users that run covered works the full exercise of the legal rights granted by this License.
No covered work constitutes part of an effective technological protection measure: that is to say, distribution of a covered work as part of a system to generate or access certain data constitutes general permission at least for development, distribution and use, under this License, of other software capable of accessing the same data.
4.[1] Verbatim Copying.
You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all license notices and notices of the absence of any warranty; give all recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program; and obey any additional terms present on parts of the Program in accord with section 7.
You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection for a fee.
5.[2] Distributing Modified Source Versions.
Having modified a copy of the Program under the conditions of section 2, thus forming a work based on the Program, you may copy and distribute such modifications or work in the form of source code under the terms of Section 4 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
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b) You must license the entire work based on the Program, as a whole, under this License to anyone who comes into possession of a copy. This License must apply, unmodified except as permitted by section 7 below, to the whole of the work. This License gives no permission to license the work in any other way, but it does not invalidate such permission if you have separately received it.
c) If the modified program has interactive user interfaces, each must include a convenient feature that displays an appropriate copyright notice, and tells the user that there is no warranty for the program (or that you provide a warranty), that users may redistribute the program under these conditions, and how to view a copy of this License, plus the central list (if any) of other terms in accord with section 7. If the interface presents a list of user commands or options, such as a menu, a command to display this information must be prominent in the list. Otherwise, the modified program must display this information at startup--except in the case that the Program has such such interactive modes and does not display this information at startup.
These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work, added by you, are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works for use not in combination with the Program. But when you distribute the same sections for use in combination with covered works, no matter in what form such combination occurs, the whole of the combination must be licensed under this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to every part of the whole. Your sections may carry other terms as part of this combination in limited ways, described in section 7.
Thus, it is not the intent of this sets to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or collective works based on the Program.
A compilation of a covered work with other separate and independent documents or works, which are not by their nature extensions of the covered work, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an "aggregate" if the copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what the individual works permit. Mere inclusion of a covered work in an aggregate does not cause this License to apply to the other parts of the aggregate.
6.[3] Non-Source Distribution.
You may copy and distribute a covered work in Object Code form under the terms of Sections 4 and 5, provided that you also distribute the machine-readable Complete Corresponding Source Code (herein the "Corresponding Source") under the terms of this License, in one of these ways:
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d) Distribute the Object Code by offering access to copy it from a designated place, and offer equivalent access to copy the Corresponding Source in the same way through the same place. You need not require recipients to copy the Corresponding Source along with the Object Code.
[If the place to copy the Object Code is a network server, the Corresponding Source may be on a different server that supports equivalent copying facilities, provided you have explicitly arranged with the operator of that server to keep the Corresponding Source available for as long as needed to satisfy these requirements, and provided you maintain clear directions next to the Object Code saying where to find the Corresponding Source.]
Distribution of the Corresponding Source in accord with this section must be in a format that is publicly documented, unencumbered by patents, and must require no special password or key for unpacking, reading or copying.
The Corresponding Source may include portions which do not formally state this License as their license, but qualify under section 7 for inclusion in a work under this License.
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When you release a work based on the Program, you may include your own terms covering added parts for which you have, or can give, appropriate copyright permission, as long as those terms clearly permitall the activities that this License permits, or permit usage or relicensing under this License. Your terms may be written separately or may be this License plus additional written permission. If you so license your own added parts, those parts may be used separately under your terms, but the entire work remains under this License. Those who copy the work, or works based on it, must preserve your terms just as they must preserve this License, as long as any substantial portion of the parts they apply to are present.
Aside from additional permissions, your terms may add limited kinds of additillows:
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b) They may state a disclaimer of warranty and liability in terms different from those used in this License.
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No other additional conditions are permitted in your terms; therefore, no other conditions can be present on any work that uses this License. This License does not attempt to enforce your terms, or assert that they are valid or enforceable by you; it simply does not prohibit you from employing them.
When others modify the work, if they modify your parts of it, they may release such parts of their versions under this License without additional permissions, by including notice to that effect, or by deleting the notice that gives specific permissions in addition to this License. Then any broader permissions granted by your terms which are not granted by this License will not apply to their modifications, or to the modified versions of your parts resulting from their modifications. However, the specific requirements of your terms will still apply to whatever was derived from your added parts.
Unless the work also permits distribution under a previous version of this License, all the other terms included in the work under this section must be listed, together, in a central list in the work.
8.[4] Termination.
You may not propagate, modify or sublicense the Program except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to propagate, modify or sublicense the Program is void, and any copyright holder may terminate your rights under this License at any time after having notified you of the violation by any reasonable means within 60 days. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as they remain in full compliance.
9.[5] Not a Contract.
=20=20=20=20=20
You are not required to accept this License in order to receive a copy of the Program. However, nothing else grants you permission to propagate or modify the Program or any covered works. These actions infringe copyright if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or propagating the Program (or any covered work), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and all its terms and conditions.
10.[7] Automatic Licensing of Downstream Users.
Each time you redistribute a covered work, the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensors, to propagate and modify that work, subject to this License, including any additional terms introduced throughon 7. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights thus granted or affirmed, except (when modifying the work) in the limited ways permitted by section 7. You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to this License.
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When you distribute a covered work, you grant a patent license to the recipient, and to anyone that receives any version of the work, permitting, for any and all versions of the covered work, all activities allowed or contemplated by this license, such as
installing, running and distributing versions of the work, and using their output. This patent license is nonexclusive, royalty-free and worldwide, and covers all patent claims you control or have the right to sublicense, at the time you distribute the covered work or in the future, that would be infringed or violated by the covered work or any reasonably contemplated use of the covered work.
If you distribute a covered work knowingly relying on a patent license, you must act to shield downstream users against the possible patent infringement claims from which your license protects you.
12.[7] Liberty or Death for the Program.
If conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute the Program, or other covered work, so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute it at all. For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution.
It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any patents or other exclusive rights or to contest their legal validity. The sole purpose of this section is to protect the integrity of the free software distribution system. Many people have made generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed through that system in reliance on consistent application of that system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot impose that choice.
[13.[8] Geographical Limitations.
If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the Program under this License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this License.]
14.[9] Revised Versions of this License.
The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of the GNU General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.
Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program specifies that a certain numbered version of this License "or any later version" applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that numbered version or of any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.
15.[10] Requesting Exceptions.
If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision will be goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.
NO WARRANTY
16.[11] There is no warranty for the Program, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Except when otherwise stated in writing the copyright holders and/or other parties provide the Program "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the Program is with you. Should the Program prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction.
17.[12] In no event unless required by applicable law or agreed to in wri=
ting will any copyright holder, or any other party who may modify and/or redistribute the Program as permitted above, be liable to you for damages, including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the Program (including but not limited to loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by you or third parties or a failure of the Program to operate with any other programs), even if such holder or other party has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
18. Unless specifically stated, this software has not been tested for use in safety critical systems.
END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.
To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
If the program does terminal interaction, make it output a short notice like this when it starts in an interactive mode:
Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w=
'.This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.
The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands you use may be called something other than `show w' and `show c'; for a GUI interface, you would use an "About box" instead.
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program `Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker.
, 1 April 1989 Ty Coon, President ofollow the GNU GPL, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses.
The GNU General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General Public License instead of this License.
Draft 1 of Version 3, 16 Jan 2006
THIS IS A DRAFT, NOT A PUBLISHED VERSION OF THE GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE.
Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
Preamble
The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. We, the Free Software Foundation, use the GNU General Public License for
most of our software; it applies also to any other program whose authors commit to using it. (Some Free Software Foundation software is covered by the GNU Lesser General Public License instead.) You can apply it to your programs, too.
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.
To protect your rights, we need to make requirements that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.
For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.
Developers that use the GNU GPL protect your rights with two steps: (1) assert copyright on the software, and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the software.
For the developers' and author's protection, the GPL clearly explains that there is no warranty for this free software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, the GPL ensures that recipients are told that what they have is not the original, so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original authors' reputations.
Some countries have adopted laws prohibiting software that enables users to escape from Digital Restrictions Management. DRM is fundamentally incompatible with the purpose of the GPL, which is to protect users' freedom; therefore, the GPL ensures that the software it covers will neither be subject to, nor subject other works to, digital restrictions from which escape is forbidden.
Finally, every program is threatened constantly by software patents. We wish to avoid the special danger that redistributors of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program proprietary. To prevent this, the GPL makes it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow.
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
0. Definitions.
A "licensed program" means any program or other work distributed under this License. The "Program" refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on the Program" means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it, either modified or unmodified. Throughout this license, the term "modification" includes, without limitation, translation and extension. A "covered work" means either the Program or any work based on the Program. Each licensee is addressed as "you".
To "propagate" a work means doing anything with it that requires permission under applicable copyright law, other than executing it on a computer or making private modifications. This includes copying, distribution (with or without modification), sublicensing, and in some countries other activities as well.
1. Source Code.
The "source code" for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it. "Object code" means any non-source version of a work.
The "Complete Corresponding Source Code" for a work in object code form means all the source code needed to understand, adapt, modify, compile, link, install, and run the work, excluding general-purpose tools used in performing those activities but which are not part of the work. For example, this includes any scripts used to control those activities, and any shared libraries and dynamically linked subprograms that the work is designed to require, such as by intimate data communication or control flow between those subprograms and other parts of the work, and interface definition files associated with the program source files.
Complete Corresponding Source Code also includes any encryption or authorization codes necessary to install and/or execute the source code of the work, perhaps modified by you, in the recommended or principal context of use, such that its functioning in all circumstances is identical to that of the work, except as altered by your modifications. It also includes any decryption codes necessary to access or unseal the work's output. Notwithstanding this, a code need be included in cases where use of the work normally implies the user already has it.
Complete Corresponding Source Code need not include anything that users can regenerate automatically from other parts of the Complete Corresponding Source Code.
As a special exception, the source code distributed need not include a particular subunit if (a) the identical subunit is normally included as an adjunct in the distribution of either a major essential component(kernel, window system, and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs or a compiler used to produce the executable or an object code interpreter used to run it, and (b) the subunit (aside from possible incidental extensions) serves only to enable use of the work with that system component or compiler or interpreter, or to implement a widely used
or standard interface, the implemention of which requires no patent license not already generally available for software under this License.
2. Basic Permissions.
All rights granted under this license are granted for the term of copyright on the Program, and are irrevocable provided the stated conditions are met. This License explicitly affirms your unlimited permission to run the Program. The output from running it is covered by this License only if the output, given its content, constitutes a work based on the Program. This License acknowledges your rights of "fair use" or other equivalent, as provided by copyright law.
This License gives unlimited permission to privately modify and run the Program, provided you do not bring suit for patent infringement against anyone for making, using or distributing their own works based on the Program.
Propagation of covered works is permitted without limitation provided it does not enable parties other than you to make or receive copies. Propagation which does enable them to do so is permitted, as "distribution", under the conditions of setal Restrictions Management.
As a free software license, this License intrinsically disfavors technical attempts to restrict users' freedom to copy, modify, and share copyrighted works. Each of its provisions shall be interpreted in light of this specific declaration of the licensor's intent. Regardless of any other provision of this license, no permission is given to distribute covered works that illegally invade users' privacy, nor for modes of distribution that deny users that run covered works the full exercise of the legal rights granted by this License.
No covered work constitutes part of an effective technological protection measure: that is to say, distribution of a covered work as part of a system to generate or access certain data constitutes general permission at least for development, distribution and use, under this License, of other software capable of accessing the same data.
4.[1] Verbatim Copying.
You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all license notices and notices of the absence of any warranty; give all recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program; and obey any additional terms present on parts of the Program in accord with section 7.
You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection for a fee.
5.[2] Distributing Modified Source Versions.
Having modified a copy of the Program under the conditions of section 2, thus forming a work based on the Program, you may copy and distribute such modifications or work in the form of source code under the terms of Section 4 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
a) The modified work must carry prominent notices stating that you changed the work and the date of any change.
b) You must license the entire work based on the Program, as a whole, under this License to anyone who comes into possession of a copy. This License must apply, unmodified except as permitted by section 7 below, to the whole of the work. This License gives no permission to license the work in any other way, but it does not invalidate such permission if you have separately received it.
c) If the modified program has interactive user interfaces, each must include a convenient feature that displays an appropriate copyright notice, and tells the user that there is no warranty for the program (or that you provide a warranty), that users may redistribute the program under these conditions, and how to view a copy of this License, plus the central list (if any) of other terms in accord with section 7. If the interface presents a list of user commands or options, such as a menu, a command to display this information must be prominent in the list. Otherwise, the modified program must display this information at startup--except in the case that the Program has such such interactive modes and does not display this information at startup.
These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work, added by you, are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works for use not in combination with the Program. But when you distribute the same sections for use in combination with covered works, no matter in what form such combination occurs, the whole of the combination must be licensed under this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to every part of the whole. Your sections may carry other terms as part of this combination in limited ways, described in section 7.
Thus, it is not the intent of this sets to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or collective works based on the Program.
A compilation of a covered work with other separate and independent documents or works, which are not by their nature extensions of the covered work, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an "aggregate" if the copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what the individual works permit. Mere inclusion of a covered work in an aggregate does not cause this License to apply to the other parts of the aggregate.
6.[3] Non-Source Distribution.
You may copy and distribute a covered work in Object Code form under the terms of Sections 4 and 5, provided that you also distribute the machine-readable Complete Corresponding Source Code (herein the "Corresponding Source") under the terms of this License, in one of these ways:
a) Distribute the Object Code in a physical product (including a physical distribution medium), accompanied by the Corresponding Source distributed on a durable physical medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
b) Distribute the Object Code in a physical product (including a physical distribution medium), accompanied by a written offer, valid for at least three years and valid for as long as you offer spare parts or customer support for that product model, to give any third party, for a price no more than ten times your cost of physically performing source distribution, a copy of the Corresponding Source, on a durable physical medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
c) Privately distribute the Object Code with a copy of the written offer to provide the Corresponding Source. This alternative is allowed only for occasional noncommercial distribution, and only if you received the Object Code with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above. Or,
d) Distribute the Object Code by offering access to copy it from a designated place, and offer equivalent access to copy the Corresponding Source in the same way through the same place. You need not require recipients to copy the Corresponding Source along with the Object Code.
[If the place to copy the Object Code is a network server, the Corresponding Source may be on a different server that supports equivalent copying facilities, provided you have explicitly arranged with the operator of that server to keep the Corresponding Source available for as long as needed to satisfy these requirements, and provided you maintain clear directions next to the Object Code saying where to find the Corresponding Source.]
Distribution of the Corresponding Source in accord with this section must be in a format that is publicly documented, unencumbered by patents, and must require no special password or key for unpacking, reading or copying.
The Corresponding Source may include portions which do not formally state this License as their license, but qualify under section 7 for inclusion in a work under this License.
7. License Compatibility.
When you release a work based on the Program, you may include your own terms covering added parts for which you have, or can give, appropriate copyright permission, as long as those terms clearly permitall the activities that this License permits, or permit usage or relicensing under this License. Your terms may be written separately or may be this License plus additional written permission. If you so license your own added parts, those parts may be used separately under your terms, but the entire work remains under this License. Those who copy the work, or works based on it, must preserve your terms just as they must preserve this License, as long as any substantial portion of the parts they apply to are present.
Aside from additional permissions, your terms may add limited kinds of additillows:
a) They may require the preservation of certain copyright notices, other legal notices, and/or author attributions, and may require that the origin of the parts it covers not be misrepresented, and/or that altered versions of them be marked in the source code, or marked there in specific reasonable ways, as different from the original version.
b) They may state a disclaimer of warranty and liability in terms different from those used in this License.
c) They may prohibit or limit the use for publicity purposes of specified names of contributors, and it may require that certain specified trademarks be used for publicity purposes only in the ways that are fair use under trademark law except with express permission.
d) They may require that the program contain functioning facilities that allow users to obtain copies of the program's Complete Corresponding Source Code.
e) They may impose software patent retaliation, which means permission for use of your added parts terminates or may be terminated, wholly or partially, under stated conditions, for users closely related to any party that has filed a software patent lawsuit (i.e., a lawsuit alleging that some software infringes a patent). The conditions must limit retaliation to a subset of these two cases: 1. Lawsuits that lack the justification of retaliating against other software patent lawsuits that lack such justification. 2. Lawsuits that target part of this work, or other code that was elsewhere released together with the parts you added, the whole being under the terms used here for those parts.
No other additional conditions are permitted in your terms; therefore, no other conditions can be present on any work that uses this License. This License does not attempt to enforce your terms, or assert that they are valid or enforceable by you; it simply does not prohibit you from employing them.
When others modify the work, if they modify your parts of it, they may release such parts of their versions under this License without additional permissions, by including notice to that effect, or by deleting the notice that gives specific permissions in addition to this License. Then any broader permissions granted by your terms which are not granted by this License will not apply to their modifications, or to the modified versions of your parts resulting from their modifications. However, the specific requirements of your terms will still apply to whatever was derived from your added parts.
Unless the work also permits distribution under a previous version of this License, all the other terms included in the work under this section must be listed, together, in a central list in the work.
8.[4] Termination.
You may not propagate, modify or sublicense the Program except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to propagate, modify or sublicense the Program is void, and any copyright holder may terminate your rights under this License at any time after having notified you of the violation by any reasonable means within 60 days. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as they remain in full compliance.
9.[5] Not a Contract.
=20=20=20=20=20
You are not required to accept this License in order to receive a copy of the Program. However, nothing else grants you permission to propagate or modify the Program or any covered works. These actions infringe copyright if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or propagating the Program (or any covered work), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and all its terms and conditions.
10.[7] Automatic Licensing of Downstream Users.
Each time you redistribute a covered work, the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensors, to propagate and modify that work, subject to this License, including any additional terms introduced throughon 7. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights thus granted or affirmed, except (when modifying the work) in the limited ways permitted by section 7. You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to this License.
11. Licensing of Patents.
When you distribute a covered work, you grant a patent license to the recipient, and to anyone that receives any version of the work, permitting, for any and all versions of the covered work, all activities allowed or contemplated by this license, such as
installing, running and distributing versions of the work, and using their output. This patent license is nonexclusive, royalty-free and worldwide, and covers all patent claims you control or have the right to sublicense, at the time you distribute the covered work or in the future, that would be infringed or violated by the covered work or any reasonably contemplated use of the covered work.
If you distribute a covered work knowingly relying on a patent license, you must act to shield downstream users against the possible patent infringement claims from which your license protects you.
12.[7] Liberty or Death for the Program.
If conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute the Program, or other covered work, so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute it at all. For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution.
It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any patents or other exclusive rights or to contest their legal validity. The sole purpose of this section is to protect the integrity of the free software distribution system. Many people have made generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed through that system in reliance on consistent application of that system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot impose that choice.
[13.[8] Geographical Limitations.
If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the Program under this License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this License.]
14.[9] Revised Versions of this License.
The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of the GNU General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.
Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program specifies that a certain numbered version of this License "or any later version" applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that numbered version or of any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.
15.[10] Requesting Exceptions.
If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision will be goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.
NO WARRANTY
16.[11] There is no warranty for the Program, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Except when otherwise stated in writing the copyright holders and/or other parties provide the Program "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the Program is with you. Should the Program prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction.
17.[12] In no event unless required by applicable law or agreed to in wri=
ting will any copyright holder, or any other party who may modify and/or redistribute the Program as permitted above, be liable to you for damages, including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the Program (including but not limited to loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by you or third parties or a failure of the Program to operate with any other programs), even if such holder or other party has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
18. Unless specifically stated, this software has not been tested for use in safety critical systems.
END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.
To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
Copyright (C)
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
If the program does terminal interaction, make it output a short notice like this when it starts in an interactive mode:
Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w=
'.This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.
The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands you use may be called something other than `show w' and `show c'; for a GUI interface, you would use an "About box" instead.
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program `Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker.
The GNU General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General Public License instead of this License.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
GPL 3
Richard Stallman is releasing the initial draft of the GPL (GPL 3) on Monday. After much discussion there will be two more draft releases before the finial release. I am sure this license is going to much more contentious than the last release in 1991 -> largely thanx to the adaption of the Linux operating system. I really refuse to consistently call Linux by Richard's chosen name - GNU/Linux. Why? Because it's apparent that Richard after years of calling Linux just Linux - he really didn't like the attention that Linus was getting. So in effort to reinsert GNU into the equation, he started using the term GNU/Linux. Had he done this from the beginning of the introduction of the kernel, I would be more sympathetic.
It's also apparent Richard while a top notch progammer in his day, belittles the amount of effort it takes to make a working kernel. The fact that in 2006, the Hurd still isn't ready for production use after something like 20 years of development. Belittling someone's work on a very difficult problem is a clear sign of jealousy. Richard is constantly saying things like "It's just the kernel." If making kernels were so easy, Hurd would have been finished long ago.
In fact Richard occasionally still lapses in calling Linux, Linux.
I recogonize that without the FSF and Richard Stallman, there is no free software. Richard through the GPL has created an entire software ecosystem. I just wish he wouldn't be so crappy about it sometimes. I call Linux Linux, I call BSD BSD and don't feel the need to insert GNU into it.
I do recoginize this - Stallman & the GPL made Linux possible. Without Stallman there is no free software architecture or intellectual basis. With all the tools that the FSF provided, it was only a matter of time before someone would have developed a workable kernel. In that regard, had Linus been killed by a group of angry penguins in 1990, someone would have eventually stepped up and filled his shoes. It might have taken another 5 - 10 years but it would have happened.
Look for the analysis of latest version of the GPL on this blog as SOON as it's released.
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GPL3
Linux
Richard Stallman
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Free Software
It's also apparent Richard while a top notch progammer in his day, belittles the amount of effort it takes to make a working kernel. The fact that in 2006, the Hurd still isn't ready for production use after something like 20 years of development. Belittling someone's work on a very difficult problem is a clear sign of jealousy. Richard is constantly saying things like "It's just the kernel." If making kernels were so easy, Hurd would have been finished long ago.
In fact Richard occasionally still lapses in calling Linux, Linux.
"The GNU Hurd is not ready for production use. Fortunately, another kernel is available. In 1991, Linus Torvalds developed a Unix-compatible kernel and called it Linux. Around 1992, combining Linux with the not-quite-complete GNU system resulted in a complete free operating system. (Combining them was a substantial job in itself, of course.) It is due to Linux that we can actually run a version of the GNU system today.
We call this system version GNU/Linux, to express its composition as a combination of the GNU system with Linux as the kernel.
I recogonize that without the FSF and Richard Stallman, there is no free software. Richard through the GPL has created an entire software ecosystem. I just wish he wouldn't be so crappy about it sometimes. I call Linux Linux, I call BSD BSD and don't feel the need to insert GNU into it.
I do recoginize this - Stallman & the GPL made Linux possible. Without Stallman there is no free software architecture or intellectual basis. With all the tools that the FSF provided, it was only a matter of time before someone would have developed a workable kernel. In that regard, had Linus been killed by a group of angry penguins in 1990, someone would have eventually stepped up and filled his shoes. It might have taken another 5 - 10 years but it would have happened.
Look for the analysis of latest version of the GPL on this blog as SOON as it's released.
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GPL3
Linux
Richard Stallman
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Free Software
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Open Source Project Management Thoughts Continued.
I realized after my last post that I was getting way ahead of myself with the last post. Before you can ever hope to manage outside contributors to your project, you need to really manage your initial core of developers. That sets the tone for the entire project before you get a ton of outside developers.
Today you have a huge number of potential project management tools to use. There are a number of software packages (such as DotProject, Open Work Bench) and a number web based systems for project management such as Sourceforge. The first thing you do when selecting a web based or downloaded package is to ask your developers what tools they are comfortable using. Making this choices without discussing the issues with your developers is a surefire recipe for disaster. No one likes to be dictated to especially with the tools they will be using. You will need to build consensus on which tool you will be using, especially if there are disagreements.
1. Use a wiki. It's useful for capturing brainstorming sessions. It's especially important that your whiteboard sessions get captured and transferring them to a wiki is the ideal way to keep them alive as living documents and not just slowly fading writing on the wall. The other added benefit is of course that when you add additional developers in seperate geographic region, they will have a handle on the thinking in the initial design decisions. Of course if you are properly using your spec as living document instead of something that sits on a shelf somewhere, they will have this information.
2. Update the project plan and task allocation on a weekly or daily basis. It will help keep you on track, and help create developer momentum as they they see updates.
3. Check the velocity of the project on a monthly basis. Very often it's easy to simply miss the project targets without looking at how things are going.
4. Cut features out - don't add them. This is a much harder temptation to resist It's better to have a greater number of releases than more feature packed yet much slower releases.
I will probably revisit this topic in the future.
BSD
Today you have a huge number of potential project management tools to use. There are a number of software packages (such as DotProject, Open Work Bench) and a number web based systems for project management such as Sourceforge. The first thing you do when selecting a web based or downloaded package is to ask your developers what tools they are comfortable using. Making this choices without discussing the issues with your developers is a surefire recipe for disaster. No one likes to be dictated to especially with the tools they will be using. You will need to build consensus on which tool you will be using, especially if there are disagreements.
1. Use a wiki. It's useful for capturing brainstorming sessions. It's especially important that your whiteboard sessions get captured and transferring them to a wiki is the ideal way to keep them alive as living documents and not just slowly fading writing on the wall. The other added benefit is of course that when you add additional developers in seperate geographic region, they will have a handle on the thinking in the initial design decisions. Of course if you are properly using your spec as living document instead of something that sits on a shelf somewhere, they will have this information.
2. Update the project plan and task allocation on a weekly or daily basis. It will help keep you on track, and help create developer momentum as they they see updates.
3. Check the velocity of the project on a monthly basis. Very often it's easy to simply miss the project targets without looking at how things are going.
4. Cut features out - don't add them. This is a much harder temptation to resist It's better to have a greater number of releases than more feature packed yet much slower releases.
I will probably revisit this topic in the future.
BSD
Monday, January 09, 2006
Open Source Project Management Handy Rules ;-)
Let's face it. Most open source projects fail. This is the way the marketplace should work. Ideas and companies fail all the time. While they fail for myriad reasons, one preventable reason for failing is poor project management. Let's face facts. Project management is hard. The job is often thankless and requires a type of mentality not often found in top flight engineers. For certain projects where those engineers have both top flight project management skills and engineeering skills (Brian Behlendorf of the Apache project comes to mind. Brian doesn't claim to have project management skills but he's far too modest).
Project management for open source projects isn't much different than project management for closed source software projects. First off - project management is about organization of information. If your project manager's desk looks like a tornado hit it, he/she shouldn't be your project manager. Very often engineers tend to see project management as a component that can be solved with just the right piece of software or by religously using a tool like sourceforge or MS Project. While these tools can be helpful, very often the tool gets in the way of project management. MS Project's primary purpose appears to be production of pretty graphs and charts which can be handed to upper management. While this may pass for project management at a large Fortune 500 company, it's not. It's the form of project management without actually being project management. If you want your project to succeed, you should learn at least the bare minimum required to actually make your project succeed.
1. Write a functional specification. Specification writing is yet another process with far too much written about it. Once again it is often written in an overly obtuse jargon much preferred by people who are attempting to sound smarter than they actually are. Very often the person that gets stuck writing your functional specification are pretty pissed about and they need feel the need to impress upper management. Fortunately for you this is an open source project and you are management! This also means it needs to be written so you can attract new developers and so your current team can underestand what you are trying to achieve. If you are coming from the traditional corporate world, throw pretty much everything you know out. I would suggest start with Joel Spolsky's four part post on why you need a spec. His advice is right on for any software project. His sections are why you need a spec, what a spec has in it, who should write a specification and tips on writing a painless specification. I would write more about writing a functional specification but quite frankly Joel does such a good job of it and I would simply be re-hashing in a much less interesting way. I suggest you read his posts.
2. Your project needs a core set of high set of developers to start. Without this core of developers consistently contributing. When you first start out, very often your other developers will be in the same room with you. This is pretty helpful initially, you can scribble on white boards, discuss coding approachs, coding standards, you name it. As you work in close proximity your developers begin to develop a mental model about each developers strengths and weaknesses. Hopefully team cohesion will improve as a result. This happens because when human being communicate, they are recieving a whole lot of data on the subconscious level. It might not and if it doesn't you need find which developer is the fly in the ointment and gently suggest another project they might be really interested in. Let's assume however that your team has gelled and your project has begun to get some traction in the marketplace. You are about to add some outside developers who have become interested in your project. These guys have developed a module or two and hopefully will contribute to the core product. So they begin contributing via CVS and discussing things on your mail list (you do have a source repository, bug tracker and commit mailing list right? No - well you should.) However you soon find a flamefest happening on the mailing list and people instead forming a smoothly running team are begining to get upset.
What happened? Well anyone that has spent time on Usenet can tell you. Human communication devoid of any physical proximity fails to capture the nuances of communication and soon these things begin to pile up. Misunderstanding piles on top of misunderstanding. As a project manager when workign with distributed teams, you must find a way to restore the balance and help those bonds form. You could get together on a yearly basis (the BSD project did this and found it helped quite a bit). If the developers are too distributed, web cams (which have much improved in the last few years) can help. Just email, mailing lists or forums don't provide enough context for developers - add another communication medium that will help personalize the other developers.
This post has gotten pretty large so I will continue it with a part two.
Technorati Tags
open source
open source project management
Project management for open source projects isn't much different than project management for closed source software projects. First off - project management is about organization of information. If your project manager's desk looks like a tornado hit it, he/she shouldn't be your project manager. Very often engineers tend to see project management as a component that can be solved with just the right piece of software or by religously using a tool like sourceforge or MS Project. While these tools can be helpful, very often the tool gets in the way of project management. MS Project's primary purpose appears to be production of pretty graphs and charts which can be handed to upper management. While this may pass for project management at a large Fortune 500 company, it's not. It's the form of project management without actually being project management. If you want your project to succeed, you should learn at least the bare minimum required to actually make your project succeed.
1. Write a functional specification. Specification writing is yet another process with far too much written about it. Once again it is often written in an overly obtuse jargon much preferred by people who are attempting to sound smarter than they actually are. Very often the person that gets stuck writing your functional specification are pretty pissed about and they need feel the need to impress upper management. Fortunately for you this is an open source project and you are management! This also means it needs to be written so you can attract new developers and so your current team can underestand what you are trying to achieve. If you are coming from the traditional corporate world, throw pretty much everything you know out. I would suggest start with Joel Spolsky's four part post on why you need a spec. His advice is right on for any software project. His sections are why you need a spec, what a spec has in it, who should write a specification and tips on writing a painless specification. I would write more about writing a functional specification but quite frankly Joel does such a good job of it and I would simply be re-hashing in a much less interesting way. I suggest you read his posts.
2. Your project needs a core set of high set of developers to start. Without this core of developers consistently contributing. When you first start out, very often your other developers will be in the same room with you. This is pretty helpful initially, you can scribble on white boards, discuss coding approachs, coding standards, you name it. As you work in close proximity your developers begin to develop a mental model about each developers strengths and weaknesses. Hopefully team cohesion will improve as a result. This happens because when human being communicate, they are recieving a whole lot of data on the subconscious level. It might not and if it doesn't you need find which developer is the fly in the ointment and gently suggest another project they might be really interested in. Let's assume however that your team has gelled and your project has begun to get some traction in the marketplace. You are about to add some outside developers who have become interested in your project. These guys have developed a module or two and hopefully will contribute to the core product. So they begin contributing via CVS and discussing things on your mail list (you do have a source repository, bug tracker and commit mailing list right? No - well you should.) However you soon find a flamefest happening on the mailing list and people instead forming a smoothly running team are begining to get upset.
What happened? Well anyone that has spent time on Usenet can tell you. Human communication devoid of any physical proximity fails to capture the nuances of communication and soon these things begin to pile up. Misunderstanding piles on top of misunderstanding. As a project manager when workign with distributed teams, you must find a way to restore the balance and help those bonds form. You could get together on a yearly basis (the BSD project did this and found it helped quite a bit). If the developers are too distributed, web cams (which have much improved in the last few years) can help. Just email, mailing lists or forums don't provide enough context for developers - add another communication medium that will help personalize the other developers.
This post has gotten pretty large so I will continue it with a part two.
Technorati Tags
open source
open source project management
Holiday Ran Late
Sorry for not posting sooner, my holiday, ran a little late. I have a more complete post up in an hour or so. Happy New Year and congrats to the Longhorns.
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