From: Jonas Häggqvist <rasher_at_rasher.dk>
Date: Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:04:27 +0100

A while ago, it was decided that themes on the fabled theme site should be
required to be licensed exclusively CC-BY-SA. This however, results in
some problems. For one thing, we can't reuse parts of themes in the
Rockbox defaults since they're part of the code, and hence GPLv2-or-later.
Another issue that seems a bit weird is that themes derived from Cabbiev2
can't be uploaded to the theme site. As I see it, we have 4 options:

1) Require CC-BY-SA only
Pros:
 - Extension of current policy.
 - CC-BY-SA makes sense for themes and graphics.
Cons:
 - We can't reuse themes or parts of themes in the Rockbox defaults.
 - Cabbiev2-derived themes aren't allowed.

2) Require GPLv2-or-later only
Pros:
 - Allows us to use code
 - Cabbiev2-derived themes are allowed
Cons:
 - Change in stated policy (disqualifies many current themes)
 - The GPL doesn't neatly apply to themes

3) Allow both GPLv2-or-later and CC-BY-SA
Pros:
 - Will allow us to use code from some themes in Rockbox
 - Inclusive.
Cons:
 - The current mix of GPLv2 and CC-BY-SA is suboptimal and makes sharing
   complicated.

4) Require dual-licensing
Pros:
 - Allows us to use the code in Rockbox
 - Allows others to use code as CC-BY-SA outside of Rockbox
Cons:
 - No, or very few current themes can be used
 - All themes derived from others would block on the original theme being
   released as dual-licensed.

I'm thinking we should stick with CC-BY-SA, but allowing both is looking
better and better the more I think about it. That's the situation we have
in the wiki at the moment anyway. How many issues has this caused?

-- 
Jonas Häggqvist
rasher(at)rasher(dot)dk

Received on 2009-03-05