To help muddy the waters lest they clarify too soon I'll throw in a rock.

I was thinking recently about a new app I'm designing and being a lazy japh or aspiring to be one, haven't looked recently at the Perl Artistic Liscense (which undoubtedly deserves a look as it is the most beautiful name for a contract that I have ever heard or expect to).

So if I compile with pp can I still include proprietary (source available but not gpl'd) modules from other people? Does linking before runtime have any effect on the model I choose? What about code I eval that has been downloaded from some other server? In general I am figuring the answers are yes, no and no, unless I state "this module can be used under the same terms as Perl itself". Also I am thinking of selling a wxperl based app and wonder if there is anything I should know first about liscensing restrictions.

I'll give a partial answer to the parent thread since this is mostly my rock.

When I have written modules/cgi for clients I always say they own what I give them, but not exclusive rights to libaries contained therein, and I put my copyright on every file. I give them source code and respond quickly to security related questions but responsibility ends if they modify it. Except for NTT I have never had a problem with that. (NTT just wants - this is a long time ago - to own a thing outright.)

As for contracts I can say that if you are writing a contract it is good to spell out the responsibilities and ownership/rights on both sides in terms of time, space, communication and other intangibles, and possibly offer a support contract. And feature creep or may make you want to switch to a monthly fee and payment schedule. I also specify a testing term after which the client automatically agrees you have delivered the goods, and also specify a risk management framework in which the client is encouraged to help control scope/cost/people/schedule and documentation deliverables are spelled out. But this isn't a legal forum so TMTOWTDI in Perl but there might be a best way in law and we can only probably supply anecdotes and links elsewhere.