On Tue, 29 Jun 2010, João Pais wrote:
Since it's a rather complex patch I would prefer for people not to edit it too much
Curious. I make complex patches and I prefer that people would edit them.
In any case, I don't think that you are stating the real reason. There's a missing (implied) part in your sentence.
(and if I get any grants to continue to work on it, it might get even more complex),
Complexity of a patch is not a goal in itself. What are you trying to say when you talk about complexity ? Then what does it suggest about whether to restrict access to the patch ?
although most of the people using it won't be able even to open the gop.
Why won't they ? and then, why bet that it will work ?
Another aspect is to prevent anyone to grab the code and do a commercial version of it.
Licenses do not prevent people from doing things, they just give you a basis for legal action. This is a deterrent, but there are known cases where it happened anyway, and then, there are surely many unknown cases. It tends to depend on how easy it is to hide.
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