[Ofa_boardplus] OFA and Open Source

[Paul Grun]

I want to find closure on one open source/dual license item discussed today.

It seems that there is broad agreement in the value of open source.  There is also some demand to continue to maintain dual licensing.

  *   In the early days, OFA code (called OFS) was maintained in an OFA repo created per the bylaws.
     *   Hence the OFA could enforce the dual license provisions because the OFA controlled the maintainer of that repo.



  *   But since OFS was open source, anybody could fork the repo and effectively deprecate the OFA repo, which is what happened.
     *   Once the open source community made the choice to fork the code and assign maintainers, the OFA could no longer rigorously enforce dual license provisions, except by a gentleman's / gentlewoman's agreement.



  *   The OFA could not have prevented that from happening.
     *   There are reasons why the community chose to do so (e.g. dissatisfaction with an absentee maintainer or other reasons) that perhaps the OFA could address
     *   But at the end of the day, there is no legal agreement that would prevent that from happening if someone were motivated to do so.



  *   Hence, in my view, the notion of losing control is illusory, since no such control exists, because OFS was open source.

Please educate me if this isn't accurate.

-Paul

Advanced Technology Group
Cray, Inc.
Office  - (503) 620 - 8757
Mobile - (503) 703 - 5382

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