License enforcement sources

[kika]

Hi
Does anybody know where to find free C/C++ source code to enforce software licenses, so that licensees can not run more software distributions that they are licensed to, nor use software after a given period?

[GNU-Fan]

You are asking in a GNU/Linux forum where you could find free software for cutting the freedom of others?

You made my day

[Manchunian]

You are asking in a GNU/Linux forum where you could find free software for cutting the freedom of others?

You made my day

He He! That was my reaction too! This is hardly the place for such a question! Most people here believe in free software, that means not just as in free beer, but also free speech. It's one of the fundamental principles of Linux and the Open Source community as a whole.

[wje_lf]

On the one hand, I avoid non-free software like the plague.

On the other hand, to choose to spend one's time producing non-free software to run under Linux, and to include a license enforcement arrangement, is a legal, valid choice, even if contemptible to some. And for someone to use such software is similarly a legal, valid choice.

I don't have an answer to kila's question, but I wish to affirm that it is a legitimate one.

[GNU-Fan]

Looking for free software to do that kind of work might be legitimate, but to me it's odd.

[wje_lf]

We're kinda hijacking this thread from kika's original question; I hope that the moderators are okay with this.

There's nothing particularly odd or inconsistent about wanting to produce software with an internally enforced license (presumably to protect revenue), and use free software to enforce that license. Just because kika may wish to charge for his software, doesn't mean he's ethically bound to use only software for which he must pay.

This is assuming that he's complying with the licensing terms of all that free software, of course.

Esthetically repugnant? Perhaps. And I don't see people rushing forward to give him (free) help to pursue his goal. (Polite) pushback against people who wish to produce commercial software is part of the equation, and must be anticipated by kika's business strategy if he wishes to be successful. And what I see in this thread is such polite pushback.

Instant virtual karma, if you will.

[i92guboj]

As much as I dislike propietary software, it's legal to do so, as far as the license of the pieces permits it.

You will be out of luck if you intend to use gpl'ed libs. But some other licenses, like lplg or bsd are more permissive in that regard.

I'm not much into licenses anyway, so you will have to google and learn about it yourself.

I am one of these that have the "odd" idea that the knowledge should be kept accessible for everyone. Even if it's coded in C/C++ :P

[Manchunian]

I agree that everyone has a right to earn a living (including the consulatants who are paid to answer this sort of question). But I also have this 'ideal' that everyone in the world will be able to access computers and learn about them: it's one way of combating world poverty. The open nature of Linux is also one of the principle factors that make it one of the safest OSs out there. But there aren't many in this coperate, money dominated world that hold these values. This is a place for people that do: if we don't fight for software and computing freedom, who the hell will?

And I don't see people rushing forward to give him (free) help to pursue his goal.

You're mixing up 'free' as in it doesn't cost anything and 'free' as in freedom. We answer hundreds of questions a week free of charge; but I'd be surprised if you saw many people from this or any other Linux forum rushing to help anyone who wants to restrict other people's rights. He should try somewhere else. Of course, he might first have to pay and sign his life away in a rights-restricting contract.

Edit: for the record I'm a realist. I don't tell people to only use Open source software, and my computer does have some closed source software installed on it (Nvidia driver, Flash, Java...). But this is because there is no viable alternative to these programmes as of yet. Having an ideal doesn't mean to say you have to be a dreamer.

[wje_lf]

You're mixing up 'free' as in it doesn't cost anything and 'free' as in freedom.

Actually, I wasn't. I realize the differences among:

1. free beer
2. free speech
3. free Tibet

I was attempting to show the irony of kika's asking for free (as in beer) advice in finding free (as in beer and speech) software to implement a software license which would, in all likelihood, enforce lack of freedom (as in beer).

And if I knew of a free (as in beer and speech) software license package he could use, I would have told him about it. So if he did not find an answer here, it was not because nobody would have been willing to help him.

The rest of your post, though, is quite correct. It's possible that someone else here knows about a qualifying software license package but is keeping his or her mouth shut because of ideological concerns. That's where the instant virtual karma comes in.

[bigtomrodney]

Right folks, with all that clarified let's just keep it to potential solutions.