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aarondfyesterday at 6:01 PM1 replyview on HN

> When one develops using open-source software they have an obligation to follow the licenses.

Agreed!

> They also have a moral obligation to be respectful of the work upon which they’re building.

Respectfully, completely disagree!

Open source is a license, not a moral framework. Your only duty is to abide by the license. If you want to enforce that everything built on top of a particular open source package also be open source, that belongs in the license.


Replies

zombodbyesterday at 6:32 PM

> Your only duty is to abide by the license.

We live in a society. I don’t see any harm in believing we ought to be respectful of the work. That’s all I’m saying. You don’t have to be, but it’s a better world if you are.

> If you want to enforce that everything built on top of a particular open source package also be open source, that belongs in the license.

Yes! I fully agree. The one that creates the thing is the one that gets to choose its license.

Having opened-sourced some bit of work myself, that’s a very difficult decision.