French GPL-compatible License

[Bernhard Reiter]

On Mon, Jul 12, 2004 at 05:32:08AM +0200, Wouter Vanden hove wrote:
> 
> "France lends support to new open-source license
> CeCILL license, compatible with GNU GPL, aims to be better suited for 
> French laws"
> http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/07/09/HNfrancelendssupport_1.html
> 
> What does FSFE-supporters think about this?

It is not a good idea to write new licenses in general.
http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/gpl-compatible.html
	Please, where possible, use an existing widely-used license
	for your software that is known to be compatible with the General
	Public License (GPL),

I advise people to choose between GNU GPL, GNU LGPL and X11 style.

> Creative Commons has a strong-copyleft license (Share-Alike) which they 
> are translating and adapting to local laws.
> 
> Why doesn't FSFEurope adopt a same strategy?

Personally I think that creating new licenses 
does not solve many problems.
The three licenses mentioned above are reasonable valid
in all countries I have heard of and they are well understood.

> Why would European government or public institutions release their own 
> software under a GPL that is only partially valid in many european 
> countries?

Because the non-working portion is neglectable in face of the
drawbacks of writing and establishing a new license.

	Bernhard
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