And what about new releases? It seems like you'd have to examine every file again. I don't know all the legal issues involved, but I think a blanket license could work if handled correctly. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but it would make life easier, and would remove a major cost of using this free library. Would it be worth going through the channels here and finding out what my company's lawyer would be satisfied with? I think he'd be perfectly willing to give some advice. After all, he's already gone through the files once, and with 1.29 just around the corner... Jeff -----Original Message----- From: Peter Dimov [mailto:pdimov@mmltd.net] Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 8:19 AM To: Boost-Users@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [Boost-Users] Re: boost vs. The Lawyers (non-technical) From: "Jeff Faust" <jeff@opticalres.com>

My company's lawyer did go through every file, and I had meant to bring this issue up sooner. Boost should be something that I, as a developer for a company, can recognize as something useful and should be able to incorporate it without too much hindrance. In truth, it was quite difficult and took a long time. The only difficulty was the license. Some blanket license, as a text file with the release, would aid greatly in convincing lawyer-types that it's safe to use.

From: Elliot Murphy [mailto:elliot.murphy@veritas.com] That would be helpful. Some of my colleagues have had terribly frustrating experiences trying to get our lawyers to approve the use of various boost libraries. The lawyers don't seem to like the idea of going into every source file to read a license agreement.

IANAL, but it seems to me that a blanket license in a text file would have no legal value if the actual source files say something different; therefore, it is the lawyers' job to go into every source file anyway, to be on the safe side (applies to any library, not just Boost.) I think. Info: <http://www.boost.org> Wiki: <http://www.crystalclearsoftware.com/cgi-bin/boost_wiki/wiki.pl> Unsubscribe: <mailto:boost-users-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

At 10:54 AM 10/11/2002, Jeff Faust wrote:

My company's lawyer did go through every file, and I had meant to bring this issue up sooner. Boost should be something that I, as a developer for a company, can recognize as something useful and should be able to incorporate it without too much hindrance. In truth, it was quite difficult and took a long time. The only difficulty was the license. Some blanket license, as a text file with the release, would aid greatly in convincing lawyer-types that it's safe to use.

This is all understood, but it isn't entirely easy to do. There are several problems, including: * Some Boost contributors have their own legal needs and require a separate license. * Boost contributors come from a number of countries, an what is a valid license for some many not be advisable or correct for others. * We need an IP lawyer to help with some of the issues, but don't have one and don't have any money to pay one. (Boost has a budget of exactly zero. At least the books are always in balance, except that there aren't any books, either.) If anyone has any suggestions for dealing with the last issue, please let me know. --Beman