/philosophy/motif.html-diff

<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
<!-- Parent-Version: 1.77 1.96 -->
<!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html -->
<!--#set var="TAGS" value="essays licensing non-cpleft" -->
<!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" -->
<title>The Motif License - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/motif.translist" -->
<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/ph-breadcrumb.html" -->
<!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE-->
<!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" -->
<div class="article reduced-width">
<h2>The Motif License</h2>

<p>by

<address class="byline">by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/"><strong>Richard Stallman</strong></a></p> href="https://www.stallman.org/">Richard
Stallman</a></address>

<p>
A couple of weeks ago, the Open Group changed the license of Motif,
inviting free software developers to use it.  However, the new Motif
license does not fit either the definition of free software, or the
looser definition of open source software.</p>
<p>
Their announcement says they have released Motif to “the open
source community”, community,” but this is true only in an unnatural
interpretation of the words.  They have not made Motif available
within the free software community; instead, they have invited the
people in the free software community to leave the community by using
Motif.</p>
<p>
I've written to the Open Group about this, asking them to change the
license.  We can hope they will, but we can't assume it.  In the
present circumstances, we have to treat Motif the same way we treated
it before: not available for us.  Motif still cannot be part of a free
operating system, and combining or linking someone else's GPL-covered
code with Motif is still a violation of the GPL except in very special
circumstances.</p>
<p>
Fortunately there is a free software alternative to Motif, called
LessTif.  Most programs that were written for Motif can use LessTif
with no changes.  Please support the free software community by using
LessTif rather than Motif.  Some finishing work still needs to be done
on LessTif; to volunteer, contact <a href="mailto:lesstif@hungry.com">
<lesstif@hungry.com></a>.</p>
<p>
Here are some of the problems of the Motif license:</p>
<ul>
  <li>It claims that you accept the license merely by
      “using” Motif.  Only a shrink-wrap license or
      something similar can do that, and shrink-wrap licenses are a
      bad thing.
  </li>

  <li>The license is restricted to use on certain operating systems,
      those which fit a category they call “open source”. source.”
      Both the free software movement and the open source camp 
      consider use restrictions unacceptable.
  </li>

  <li>Their definition of the term “open source” is very
      different from the one used by the open source camp, thus
      causing confusion.
  </li>
</ul>
<p>
In the free software movement, we disagree with the philosophy and
values of open source.  (For more explanation, see
<a href="/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">open-source-misses-the-point.html</a>.)
But even though we do not support open source or advocate what it
stands for, we think people should not misrepresent what it stands
for.  The facts of the situation are complex enough; confusing the
issue is not welcome.</p>

<h3 id="LaterNote">Later id="LaterNote" class="footnote">Later Note</h3>

<p>
<em>In 2012, <a href="http://motif.sourceforge.net/"> href="https://motif.ics.com/">
Motif</a> was released under the GNU Lesser General Public
License, version 2.1.</em></p>
</div>

</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
<div id="footer"> id="footer" role="contentinfo">
<div class="unprintable">

<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a
href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>.  There are also <a
href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> the FSF.  Broken links and other
corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a
href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p>

<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph,
        replace it with the translation of these two:

        We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality
        translations.  However, we are not exempt from imperfection.
        Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard
        to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org">
        <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p>

        <p>For information on coordinating and submitting contributing translations of
        our web pages, see <a
        href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
        README</a>. -->
Please see the <a
href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations README</a> for
information on coordinating and submitting contributing translations of this article.</p>
</div>

<!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to
     files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should
     be under CC BY-ND 4.0.  Please do NOT change or remove this
     without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first.
     Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the
     document.  For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the
     document was modified, or published.
     
     If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too.
     Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying
     years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable
     year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including
     being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system).
     
     There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers
     Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. -->

<p>Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2007, 2008, 2010 1997-1999, 2013, 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>

<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative
Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License</a>.
</p> Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p>

<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->

<p class="unprintable">Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
$Date: 2021/10/01 17:39:59 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include -->
</body>
</html>