[Chicago] Capistrano alternatives

[Ian Bicking]

drunkenbatman wrote:
>> I can bring a suit just to be an asshole.  And indeed, such assholery is
>> common in some fields and in certain kinds of relationships.  But I feel
>> like it is slandering open source communities to imply that it is at all
>> common there.  It's not, in no small part because it is a community of
>> individuals.
> 
> I'd agree about the individuals part, but would propose based on
> experience that you're assigning some form of gentleman's agreement or
> form of altruism whereas most individuals simply lack the capability and
> means to pursue a copyright claim. EG, individual A finds that a company
> or other individual is using their code in a way that violates the
> license. The individual contacts them, and the company ignores them for
> whatever reason. At this point (assuming they are made aware at all)
> they're told by people "contact the FSF" and "contact the EFF" or "hire
> a lawyer, it's a slam dunk".

Sure.  Individuals can't easily defend themselves legally, and are 
unlikely to have any positive outcome during a copyright dispute.  This 
is true regardless of whether we want it to be true.  The gentleman's 
agreement actually is available to the individuals, which is why I think 
it's a more reasonable way to look at licensing.  It's better for the 
community if people use the guide "am I doing the right thing" than "am 
I taking on a legal liability".  That is, moral and social norms are 
better at enforcing good behavior than the law is.


-- 
Ian Bicking : ianb at colorstudy.com : http://blog.ianbicking.org