# Is license of gserver.rb in Ruby package "freeware"? Thanks

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-license-of-gserver-rb-in-ruby-package-freeware-thanks/132527>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [March 21, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-license-of-gserver-rb-in-ruby-package-freeware-thanks/132527 "2008-03-21T02:42:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![XiaoLiang\_Liu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/x/b2d939/32.png) [@XiaoLiang\_Liu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/XiaoLiang_Liu)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-license-of-gserver-rb-in-ruby-package-freeware-thanks/132527/1 "2008-03-21T02:42:13Z")

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Hello,

I found that in Ruby package there’s a file named gserver.rb, the  
licence of  
which is “freeware”. I searched freeware licence on internet, but I  
didn’t  
find the content of the licence.

Does anyone know freeware licence? Thanks a lot.

## Here’s the header of gserver.rb

# 

# Copyright © 2001 John W. Small All Rights Reserved

# 

# Author:: John W. Small

# Documentation:: Gavin S.

# Licence:: Freeware.

# 

# See the class GServer for documentation.

#

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![XiaoLiang\_Liu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/x/b2d939/32.png) [@XiaoLiang\_Liu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/XiaoLiang_Liu)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 5:17am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-license-of-gserver-rb-in-ruby-package-freeware-thanks/132527/2 "2008-03-21T05:17:33Z")

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quoth the XiaoLiang Liu:

> # 
> 
> # Copyright (C) 2001 John W. Small All Rights Reserved
> 
> # 
> 
> # Author:: John W. Small
> 
> # Documentation:: Gavin S.
> 
> # Licence:: Freeware.
> 
> # 
> 
> # See the class GServer for documentation.
> 
> #

I believe in this context it is the same as saying 'free as in beer, but  
_not_  
free as in speech, though, I am not a lawyer, and am not an expert on  
software licensing.

Perhaps this link from wikipedia may help:  
[Freeware - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeware).

FWIW your best bet is to try to contact the author himself directly to  
enquire  
about its terms of use.

-d

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![XiaoLiang\_Liu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/x/b2d939/32.png) [@XiaoLiang\_Liu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/XiaoLiang_Liu)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-license-of-gserver-rb-in-ruby-package-freeware-thanks/132527/3 "2008-03-21T18:27:38Z")

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On Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 12:16 AM, darren kirby  
[removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> I believe in this context it is the same as saying 'free as in beer, but _not_  
> free as in speech, though, I am not a lawyer, and am not an expert on  
> software licensing.

That could be a problem, considering GServer is part of the core Ruby  
distribution which is ostensibly all under the Ruby license.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![XiaoLiang\_Liu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/x/b2d939/32.png) [@XiaoLiang\_Liu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/XiaoLiang_Liu)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 7:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-license-of-gserver-rb-in-ruby-package-freeware-thanks/132527/4 "2008-03-21T19:23:21Z")

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quoth the Avdi G.:

> On Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 12:16 AM, darren kirby [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
> wrote:
> 
> > I believe in this context it is the same as saying 'free as in beer, but  
> > _not_ free as in speech, though, I am not a lawyer, and am not an expert  
> > on software licensing.
> 
> That could be a problem, considering GServer is part of the core Ruby  
> distribution which is ostensibly all under the Ruby license.

Ahh, I wasn’t aware it was core Ruby. I am also not aware if code  
accepted to  
the core distribution implicitly becomes licensed under the ‘Ruby’  
license.  
Perhaps gserver.rb needs to be updated…

-d

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![XiaoLiang\_Liu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/x/b2d939/32.png) [@XiaoLiang\_Liu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/XiaoLiang_Liu)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-license-of-gserver-rb-in-ruby-package-freeware-thanks/132527/5 "2008-03-24T02:26:17Z")

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Yes, since gserver.rb is part of ruby core, I think it might need be  
updated.

On Sat, Mar 22, 2008 at 2:22 AM, darren kirby [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![XiaoLiang\_Liu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/x/b2d939/32.png) [@XiaoLiang\_Liu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/XiaoLiang_Liu)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-license-of-gserver-rb-in-ruby-package-freeware-thanks/132527/6 "2008-03-26T02:38:37Z")

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Does anyone know email of the author John W. Small?  
Thanks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![XiaoLiang\_Liu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/x/b2d939/32.png) [@XiaoLiang\_Liu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/XiaoLiang_Liu)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 2:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-license-of-gserver-rb-in-ruby-package-freeware-thanks/132527/7 "2008-03-24T02:33:55Z")

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anyway, does anyone know the email of the author John W. Small?  
Thanks.