.gitignore

+*.aux
+*.fdb_latexmk
+*.fls
+*.knowngood
+*.log
+*.out
+*.pdf
+*.tex
+*.toc
+*.draft.ltx
+*.rej
+noun_Book_861143.svg
+noun_Book_861143_ltgreen.svg
+noun_Email_3027864.svg
+noun_Email_3027864_ltgreen.svg
+noun_Key_1785639.svg
+noun_Key_1785639_crop.svg
+noun_Key_1785639_ltgreen.svg
+noun_Telephone_2591756.svg
+noun_Telephone_2591756_ltgreen.svg
+svg-inkscape
+doc/kde

Makefile

+#!/bin/sh
+
+### The upstream master version of this Makefile lives here:
+### 
+### https://github.com/OpenTechStrategies/ots-doctools/blob/master/ext-Makefile
+### 
+### A copy of this Makefile will often be included in a document
+### source tree, because for people who build documents, it's very
+### convenient to just run 'make' or 'make some_document_name.pdf' and
+### have the desired thing happen.  This Makefile then just forwards
+### all the action to the much more sophisticated Makefile found at
+### ${OTS_DOCTOOLS_DIR}/Makefile.  Therefore, please try not to make
+### changes here; instead, put any improvements in the other Makefile.
+
+.PHONY: default check
+
+# The order of the rules below is important; change only with care.
+
+default: check
+	@make -s -f ${OTS_DOCTOOLS_DIR}/Makefile
+
+%: check
+	@make -s -f ${OTS_DOCTOOLS_DIR}/Makefile $@
+
+check:
+	@if [ "${OTS_DOCTOOLS_DIR}X" = "X" ]; then                            \
+           echo "";                                                           \
+           echo "ERROR: Your OTS_DOCTOOLS_DIR env var is not set up yet.";    \
+           echo "       Please see this repository for instructions:";        \
+           echo "       https://github.com/OpenTechStrategies/ots-doctools."; \
+           echo "";                                                           \
+           exit 1;                                                            \
+        fi

README.md

-Research on *delayed open source publication* (DOSP): the practice of
+This repository is a collection of research, and a resultant
+[whitepaper](https://opensource.org/delayed-open-source-publication),
+about *delayed open source publication* (DOSP): the practice of
 publishing a software release under a proprietary license initially,
-then later (usually in a planned fashion) publishing that release's
-source code under an open source license.
-
-While delayed open source publication been somewhat rare, there are
-some examples of it across the history of open source -- in fact, some
-of the examples (e.g., Aladdin Ghostscript) predate the coining of the
-term "open source".  To the best of our knowledge, when software
-authors have done this it has usually been in a fairly predictable
-way.  For example, when release N goes out under a proprietary
-license, release N-1 is then (re)published under an open source
-license.
-
-This repository is a collection of research, and eventually a
-whitepaper, about various examples of DOSP and show how they are alike
-or different.  We will also analyze the effects (if any) of this
-practice generally on open source as a field.  Our purpose is to
-provide accurate historical description and objective analysis; our
-work here represents no position on the desirability or undesirability
-of delayed open source publication.
-
-This research is supported by the [Open Source Initiative
-(OSI)](https://opensource.org/).
-
-## Terminology
-
-We are not necessarily settled on the term "delayed open source
-publication".  If you can suggest a better term for the phenomenon,
-please let us know.
-
-## Contributing
+then later publishing that release's source code under an open source
+license.  (This is often, but not always, done in a predictable
+fashion: e.g., when release N goes out under a proprietary license,
+release N-1 is then (re)published under an open source license.)
+
+There are examples of DOSP across the history of open source -- in
+fact, some of the examples (e.g., Aladdin Ghostscript) predate the
+coining of the term "open source".  We looked at various instances of
+DOSP and examined how they are alike or different.  We also analyzed
+the effects (if any) of DOSP on open source as a field.  Our purpose
+was to provide accurate historical description and objective analysis;
+our work here represents no position on the desirability or
+undesirability of delayed open source publication.
+
+This research was supported by the [Open Source Initiative
+(OSI)](https://opensource.org/).  The report is now completed and
+published at
+[opensource.org/delayed-open-source-publication](https://opensource.org/delayed-open-source-publication).
+
+## Contacting us
 
 You can email us at `dosp-research {_AT_} opensource.org` or [file a
 ticket](https://code.librehq.com/ots/dosp-research/-/issues/new) to
-contact us.
+contact us.  While we occasionally indulge in light maintenance and
+error correction in the LaTeX source, that's infrequent and done
+entirely at our discretion.  We may prepare an updated second edition
+some day; if you're interested in being involved in that, please let
+us know.
 
-To build the whitepaper from LaTeX source, you will need to use
-[OTS DocTools](https://code.librehq.com/ots/ots-doctools).
+## Building the whitepaper PDF from LaTeX source
 
-Just kidding -- the whitepaper doesn't exist yet.  Instead, we have
-this free-form [notes file](notes.md).  For now, that's the right
-landing place for contributions.
+To build the whitepaper from LaTeX source, use [OTS
+DocTools](https://code.librehq.com/ots/ots-doctools).

bin/dosh

+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# Downloader for agreement between Troll Tech and KDE Free Qt Foundation.
+# 
+# KDE presents the agreement as a series of PNG files on their site,
+# which is less convenient than assembling that into a PDF.  But we
+# don't have permission to distribute an assembled PDF, so instead we
+# have this script, which lets a user take the PNG files and make
+# their own PDF.
+
+SCRIPTNAME=dosh
+BASEDIR=$( cd -- "$( dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" &> /dev/null && pwd )/..
+
+# Call the upstream dosh
+watch(){ ${OTS_DOCTOOLS_DIR}/dosh ${FUNCNAME[0]} "$@"; }
+verify_pdf_links(){ ${OTS_DOCTOOLS_DIR}/dosh ${FUNCNAME[0]} "$@"; }
+
+_dload(){
+	if [ -f "$2" ]; then
+		return
+	fi
+	wget -O $2 $1
+}
+
+docs_kde() {
+	mkdir -p $BASEDIR/doc/kde/.cache
+	cd $BASEDIR/doc/kde/.cache
+
+	# Don't download if it already exists
+	if [ -f  ../kdefreeqt.pdf ]; then
+		return
+	fi
+
+	_dload https://kde.org/community/whatiskde/images/kdefreeqt0.png kdefreeqt0.png
+	_dload https://kde.org/community/whatiskde/images/kdefreeqt1.png kdefreeqt1.png
+	_dload https://kde.org/community/whatiskde/images/kdefreeqt2.png kdefreeqt2.png
+	_dload https://kde.org/community/whatiskde/images/kdefreeqt3.png kdefreeqt3.png
+	_dload https://kde.org/community/whatiskde/images/kdefreeqt4.png kdefreeqt4.png
+	_dload https://kde.org/community/whatiskde/images/kdefreeqt5.png kdefreeqt5.png
+	_dload https://kde.org/community/whatiskde/images/kdefreeqt6.png kdefreeqt6.png
+	_dload https://kde.org/community/whatiskde/images/kdefreeqt7.png kdefreeqt7.png
+	convert kdefreeqt*.png ../kdefreeqt.pdf
+}
+
+docs() {
+	docs_kde
+}
+
+"$@" # <- execute the task
+[ "$#" -gt 0 ] || printf "Usage:\n\t./${SCRIPTNAME} %s\n" "($(compgen -A function | grep '^[^_]' | paste -sd '|' -))"

doc/Makefile

+all:
+	@../bin/dosh docs
+
+clean-cache:
+	@echo rm -rf kde/.cache
+
+clean: clean-cache
+	rm -rf kde/kdefreeqt.pdf

notes.md

@@ -2,80 +2,61 @@ This file contains free-form notes.  Anyone working on this project,
 please feel free to reformat this (including to something other than
 Markdown) if you want.
 
+# Some additional license search methods
+
+Databases licensed under BUSL:
+
+https://dbdb.io/browse?license=business-source-license&q=
+
+Elastic License v2 - has hosting noncompete clause but no conversion to FOSS
+
+We can also do a search for particular SPDX values, like "BUSL" or "BUSL-1.1", in a SPDX line -- probably on GitHub!
+
 # Examples
 
 Note that some of these examples are still just pointers that will
 need followup.
 
-* The license now named the "Bootstrap Open Source License" (BOSL) was
-  formerly known as the "Transitive Grace Period Public Licence"
-  (TGPPL).  
+* Stuff about TGGPL:
 
   The 2020 blog post [Introducing BOSL, a radically new type of
   open-source
   license](https://electriccoin.co/blog/introducing-tgppl-a-radically-new-type-of-open-source-license/)
-  discusses the license and gives some examples of its use.
+  discusses BOSL license and gives some examples of its use.
 
   An earlier (2010) writeup about TGPPL from Ted T'so is
   [The Transitive Grace Period Public Licence: good ideas come
   around…](https://thunk.org/tytso/blog/2010/01/20/the-transitive-grace-period-public-licence-good-ideas-come-around/).
 
-  [Tahoe-LAFS](https://github.com/tahoe-lafs/tahoe-lafs) seems to have
-  a somewhat complicated (though still open source) licensing
-  situation, but it appears to be also published under the TGPPL?
-
-  And Zooko might be using BOSL or TGPPL for other things as well.
   (See also https://github.com/zooko/tgppl -- note that Richard
   Fontana is in the commit history there.)
 
-* Aladdin Ghostscript
-
-* Akka (BUSL) [license FAQ](https://www.lightbend.com/akka/license-faq)
-
-  They moved to BSL last year; after 3 years, code switches from BSL
-  to Apache 2.0.  From [their blog
-  post](https://www.lightbend.com/blog/why-we-are-changing-the-license-for-akka):
-
-    > ...
-    > The new license for Akka is the Business Source License (BSL)
-    > v1.1, with an additional usage grant to cover some open source
-    > usage of Akka, such as part of the Play Framework. The BSL was
-    > created by David Axmark and Michael Widenius and has been
-    > adopted by MariaDB, Cockroach Labs, Sentry, Materialized, and
-    > others.
-    > 
-    > The BSL is a “Source Available” license that freely allows using
-    > the code for development and other non-production work such as
-    > testing. Production use of the software requires a commercial
-    > license from Lightbend. The commercial license will be available
-    > at no charge for early-stage companies (less than US $25 million
-    > in annual revenue). By enabling early-stage companies to use
-    > Akka in production for free, we hope to continue to foster the
-    > innovation synonymous with the startup adoption of Akka.
-    > 
-    > After 3 years, the BSL license indefinitely reverts to an Apache
-    > 2.0 license. A [detailed FAQ](http://lightbend.com/akka/license-faq) is available to answer many of the
-    > questions that you will have about the license change. You can
-    > see our version of the BSL [here](https://lightbend.com/akka/license).
-    > ...
-
-* [Atom (text editor)](https://atom-editor.cc/blog/2014/05/06/atom-is-now-open-source/)
+* ONE-OFF [Atom (text editor)](https://atom-editor.cc/blog/2014/05/06/atom-is-now-open-source/)
 
   (suggested by @Zaeraxa in reply to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37745772)
 
-* BerkeleyDB and Sleepycat?
+  Probably not DOSP: Apparently had no license at all prior to this.
+
+* NOT DOSP BerkeleyDB and Sleepycat?
 
-* CockroachDB (BUSL) [licensing FAQs](https://www.cockroachlabs.com/docs/stable/licensing-faqs)
+  Probably not DOSP: simultaneous dual license.
 
 * FreeBSD netgraph
 
-* [Ghostty](https://mitchellh.com/ghostty)
+  Have not found any reference to licensing so far.
+
+* ONE-OFF [Ghostty](https://mitchellh.com/ghostty)
 
   (suggested by @Zaeraxa in reply to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37745772)
 
-* Modular/Mojo (a highly-anticipated project from Chris Lattner
+  "A private project. I plan to open source it one day"
+
+* ONE-OFF Modular/Mojo (a highly-anticipated project from Chris Lattner
   (creator of LLVM, Swift, and XLA/TensorFlow).
 
+  Possibly an example based on code quality and similar concerns,
+  but no fixed schedule: https://docs.modular.com/mojo/faq.html#open-source
+
 * GitLab
 
   The situation with GitLab is interesting.  They make some fairly
@@ -92,30 +73,9 @@ need followup.
   their way of operating probably warrants mention in the Appendix, as
   people interested in DOSP would also want to know about this.
 
-* Hashicorp and BUSL
-  - https://www.hashicorp.com/license-faq#Why-is-HashiCorp-making-this-change
-  - https://www.hashicorp.com/blog/hashicorp-adopts-business-source-license
-
-* MariaDB
-
-* _MindLogger_ from Child Mind Institute
-  - uses its self-rolled _"Delayed Open Source Attribution License"_ 
-  - [license file on GH](https://github.com/ChildMindInstitute/mindlogger-applet-builder/blob/master/LICENSE.md)
-
-* MkDocs
-
-* North Road (geospatial software company) [projects](https://north-road.com/#)
+* UNCLEAR MkDocs
 
-  @jjgreen followed up in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37745772
-  to say: "North Road's SLYR (ESRI to QGIS Compatibility Suite) does
-  that (and rather good code it is too).  https://north-road.com/slyr/ .
-  I see North Road is actually on your list, but eventual openness not
-  obvious.  I think that's clear for SLYR at least."
-
-* Onivim 2 (was this unplanned?) [issue](https://github.com/onivim/oni2/issues/3771)
-  see also https://v2.onivim.io/early-access-portal and
-  https://github.com/onivim/oni2/issues/3811#issuecomment-910306404 for additional
-  history
+  I haven't found any delayed licensing information.
 
 * Android (Google's eventual publication of changes to AOSP)
 
@@ -128,44 +88,30 @@ need followup.
   commit and its becoming public can be seen?  Karl guesses that they
   do preserve all the metadata, but we should check.)
 
-* OPSI ["co-funding"](https://www.opsi.org/de/dokumentation/opsi-lizenz-und-copyright) (see also [this forum link](https://forum.opsi.org/viewtopic.php?t=1193))
+  Cf. the situation with video game development, as Seth noted.
 
 * [OTRS](https://www.znuny.org/en/blog/why) (open source -> delayed ->
   proprietary), but one person said that the announced delayed open release
   never actually happened.
 
-* Pixelfed ["will be open sourced when we reach v1"](https://pixelfed.org/mobile-apps)
-
-* [PKMN Classic Framework](https://github.com/mm201/pkmn-classic-framework)
-  (a reverse-engineered third-party Pokémon game server?) has a conditional
-  relicensing if the developer's official server instance goes offline in
-  the future
+* ONE-OFF Pixelfed ["will be open sourced when we reach v1"](https://pixelfed.org/mobile-apps)
 
 * Qt (officially delayed releases in the past from Trolltech?)
 
-* "searchcode" server under an "eventually open license" according to the post
-  [GPL Time-bomb an interesting approach to #FOSS licensing](https://boyter.org/2016/08/gpl-time-bomb-interesting-approach-foss-licensing/)
-  by Ben Boyter.
-
-* [Sentry](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry/blob/master/LICENSE)
-  (Business Source License (BUSL)); Codecov (also from Sentry) is also BUSL.
-
-  See https://blog.sentry.io/lets-talk-about-open-source/.
-
-* [Zed](https://zed.dev/blog/open-sourcing-zed-on-zed)
+* UNCLEAR [Zed](https://zed.dev/blog/open-sourcing-zed-on-zed)
 
   (suggested by @Zaeraxa in reply to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37745772)
 
-# Not software
-
-* Rockefeller University Press Journal of Cell Biology has a delayed
-  open access policy with delayed relicensing of academic journal articles
-  (although the end license is a noncommercial Creative Commons license
-  so it would not be considered open source)
+* INAPPLICABLE Hudson->Jenkins
 
-* Maybe there are other examples of delayed open access in journals with
-  formal relicensing that would be considered fully open source (if the
-  articles were software)?
+  Alex Scammon mentioned the Hudson->Jenkins transition to Karl.  But
+  on looking more closely into [the
+  history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenkins_(software)), it looks
+  like this was not about licensing, but rather about community
+  influence vs corporate (Oracle) influence on shared project
+  decisions.  ([This
+  article](https://www.infoworld.com/article/2624986/oracle-s-open-source-missteps-continue-with-hudson-project.html)
+  seems to give a good overview of what happened.)
 
 # An annoying nomenclature problem
 
@@ -202,12 +148,6 @@ suggesting some of these cases (which can be fairly famous, like Netscape
 Navigator!), but I think these should be thought of as more of a one-time
 "change" than a "delay".
 
-See also [Creative Commons Final Report: On the Viability and
-Development of Springing
-Licenses](https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Springing-licenses-FINAL.pdf).
-
-Lawrence Rosen's book *Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law* uses the term "eventual source".
-
 # Enforceability
 
 The Creative Commons review seems to have been concerned that springing
@@ -234,7 +174,7 @@ more examples.  Please add other threads here too.
 * https://twitter.com/kfogel/status/1699104095976423795
 * https://chat.opentechstrategies.com/#narrow/stream/2-general/topic/DOSP/near/172793
 * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37745772
-* http://lists.opensource.org/pipermail/license-discuss_lists.opensource.org/2023-October/022130.html
+* http://lists.opensource.org/pipermail/license-discuss\_lists.opensource.org/2023-October/thread.html#22130
 
 # Resources to check
 
@@ -246,28 +186,3 @@ more examples.  Please add other threads here too.
   a really good post, in Karl's opinion, not that anyone asked him,
   but hey, if you're editing the notes file then you get to insert
   your opinions.)
-
-* Old games and libraries from [id Software](https://github.com/id-Software),
-  but was this planned or announced?
-
-# More people to contact as we're gathering examples
-
-If your name should be on the list below but isn't, please [let us
-know](https://code.librehq.com/ots/dosp-research/-/issues/new)!
-
-* Deb Bryant
-* Danese Cooper
-* L. Peter Deutsch
-* Raph Levien
-* Zooko
-* Your Name Here...
-
-# Sources / Acknowledgements
-
-* Simon Phipps
-* Stefano Maffulli
-* Nick Vidal
-* Bastian Greshake Tzovaras
-* Sam Ramji
-* Heather Meeker
-* Abby Kearns

parkinglot.ltx

+\numberedsection{Enforceability}\label{enforce}
+
+Delayed open source licensing is less explored than immediate open source
+licensing, and some observers have expressed concerns about its legal
+enforceability. For example, if an author died before the announced license
+transition date, would the author's heirs be required to honor the license
+transition, or could they potentially cancel or withdraw it? What if a
+company were acquired by a new owner which wanted to retroactively change
+its licensing structure?
+
+% XXX We obviously don't know yet because ...
+
+The Creative Commons research on springing licenses expressed some concerns
+about their enforceability. The Creative Commons organization itself
+previously implemented a delayed licensing mechanism called Founders
+Copyright; unlike other Creative Commons licenses, the Founders Copyright
+involves a copyright assignment to the Creative Commons nonprofit
+organization itself. The organization then commits to grant the original
+author an exclusive license to the for the announced delay period, and
+to license the work to the public afterward. It appears that this copyright
+assignment mechanism was intended to minimize uncertainty about the
+extent to which authors could bind themselves (or their successors) to
+future licensing intentions, although it required direct involvement by
+the nonprofit as copyright holder and licensor, a role it had otherwise
+not seen fit to take on.
+
+Kyle E. Mitchell distinguishes ``a present grant of a license" (with a
+specified future start date) from ``a contractual promise to grant the
+license later" and advocates using the former, although he does not
+imply that the latter is invalid or unenforceable. Mitchell's concerns
+focus on clarity and persistent documentation of specific license
+grants to specific code and project versions.
+
+

work.md

+# 2023-11-07:
+
+* (James+Karl) High-level organizing and writing in the report.
+
+* (Seth) Did rate of outside contribution change after BUSL
+  relicensing of Terraform, and maybe same for some other project that
+  either didn't have a fork or that had a not-conspicuously-successful
+  fork.  Not sure which project that latter would be, but it would be
+  great if we could identify one for comparison, since the Terraform
+  fork has so conspicuously successful so far.
+
+* (Seth) Similar investigation using bug tracker data instead of
+  commits.
+
+* (Seth) Figure out what other DOSP licenses there are:
+
+  See "Licenses indexed there that I'm not familiar with and that we
+  should double-check for possible DOSP-nature" in notes.md.
+
+* (Seth) Remaining todo items from 2023-11-03 entry below.
+
+* (James+Karl, for now at least) We should raise (but not try to
+  answer) the question of why some BUSL-relicensed projects stimulate
+  flourishing FOSS forks while others do not.  Even within Hashicorp's
+  projects there are pretty dramatic contrasts.
+
+# 2023-11-03: 
+
+* Mark items in notes.md so we know what remains to be investigated in there.
+
+  Also, organize the items (either rearranging in groups or via
+  tagging) to make clear which ones are the kind of DOSP we're
+  interested in,
+
+* High level organization of report.
+
+    - Start w/ Early History as top-level section: Aladdin
+      Ghostscript, & why they went to straight-up proprietary
+      relicensing.
+
+      Point out how Ghostscript was not a database nor a web dev
+      library -- it wasn't the sort of thing that would raise the more
+      modern worry of "Hey, my competitors will use my thing for free
+      *to compete with me*."
+
+      Seth notes that while we do see Company Q expressing displeasure
+      at competitors picking up Q's stuff and just using it to
+      directly compete with Q, and we see Q switching to a DOSP
+      license therefore, it often seems that AGPL was not seriously
+      considered.  Understanding why would be really useful.
+
+    - Then Motivations: today, why are people doing it?
+
+    - What is their business model?
+
+    - What sector are they in?
+
+* Document similarity between Android ecosystem and video game developer
+
+* Document that Trolltech agreed to a DOSP fallback for QT contractually
+
+  ...and say we don't know if they actually ever did DOSP.
+
+* BUSL
+
+  - Has any project ever come out of the gate de novo as BUSL?
+    Or is it always relicensing an existing open source project?
+
+    QUESTION / THOUGHT: It *might* the pattern for BSL and things like
+    it is that a project's owners relicense to those only after their
+    product gets traction under a truly OSS license first -- i.e., use
+    OSS dynamics to gain attention, usage, and investment/loyalty, and
+    then use BUSL to centralizedly capture more of the value from that
+    loyalty than would have been possible if the project had remained
+    under a from-the-start OSS license.
+
+  - QUESTION: Why did the BUSL'ing of Terraform catch so much more
+    blowback than other things that Hashicorp BUSL'd?
+
+  - QUESTION: If we wanted to dive deeply on this one, we might want
+    to get stats on how many contributors jumped ship to the recent
+    OSS fork of Terraform vs how many stayed (and how many decided to
+    straddle both projects).
+
+  - OBSERVATION: Hashicorp has a CLA-checker bot that makes sure all
+    the authors of a PR have signed the CLA (the CLA that presumably
+    allowed them to relicense contributor's changes).
+
+* Explain distinction between BUSL and (upcoming) FSL
+
+  FSL is basically a temporary non-compete -- that's its only
+  proprietary term, and it's an innovation relative to licenses that
+  have that as a permanent proprietary term.
+
+# 2023-10-30: Seth/Karl meet and discuss next steps
+
+* For each project mentioned in notes.md, make sure that we have the
+  date (or rough time period) and a basic idea of what happened with
+  that project.
+
+* For any license that looks open source to us but is not
+  OSI-approved, find out if it was submitted to license-review@ and/or
+  to license-discuss@, and what the result was.  These may be long
+  threads; we will need to summarize.
+
+  Examples of these might include: 
+
+    - "Bootstrap Open Source License" (BOSL).  *NOTE*: this is NOT
+      RELATED to the Bootstrap open source project at
+      getbootstrap.com!  Instead, see
+
+      https://electriccoin.co/blog/introducing-tgppl-a-radically-new-type-of-open-source-license/
+
+      https://notes.andymatuschak.org/zVYtYLQkMVEV4zR9SF8i25k
+
+    - "Transitive Grace Period Public License" (TGPPL): This is really
+      the same as the BOSL above -- BOSL is just a rename of TGPPL.
+      (And Ted T'so proposed "TPL" before this.)
+
+* Decide if we're using an "eras" approach, and, if we are, decide
+  what the eras are.