Hi John, On 10 Feb 2026, at 19:59, John Sarabacha wrote:
> Hi Carsten, > Question now is can riscv_pal.h with its licensing be > embodied in a AmForth work which is GPLv3? I haven't seen the code, as you did not provided a download link to the code. I can only speculate how riscv_pal.h is related to amForth. > Is riscv_pal.h forced to be GPLv3 also, my licensing no longer applies? My view: if riscv_pal.h is being used within amForth, it will be GPLv3 licensed and other (more permissive or more restrictive) licensing will not apply. > Who is benefiting here, lawyers (they have enough money) or developers? Developers are benefiting. No doubt. I work in the space of what is called "open source software" since 1988, and I've seen some cases where companies have exploited permissive software licensing (MIT, BSD, ISC), making a lot of money with products and sharing neither code, nor money nor maintenance work with the original developer(s). These developers have switched the licenses of their code from permissive licensing to copyleft licensing. Examples are the products of ISC (BIND 9, Kea-DHCP). amForth is GPLv3 licensed, we all should respect that. > I don't mind sharing, it's the being forced to share I have an issue with. You are not forced to share. It is your choice to use amForth, nobody forces you. If you choose amForth, it is because you get something for free. If you get something for free, you should be willing to share on the same terms. Taking something for free and not sharing back is unethical, in my view. > When you do that you lose the freedom of expression (even if it is in > software). > You always have the choice to not touch any GPL licensed software. But if you choose to use GPL license software (like amForth), you must play by the rules of that license. The license situation of amForth is clear, I will not continue to discus this issue further. Carsten _______________________________________________ Amforth-devel mailing list for http://amforth.sf.net/ [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/amforth-devel
