I consider using 'Public Domain' for the base layout of UltimateKEYS

[pieter-degroote]

I consider using the 'Public Domain' license for the base layout of UltimateKEYS, since this base layout is actually based on US QWERTY, with some aspects from EurKEY and US-International. That way, I believe that it will be simpler to integrate its base (or main) layout into other works, without complicating the licensing issues, since it is already a 'blend' of even other different layouts.

As mentioned, the UltimateKEYS base layout somehow consists of the following :

• US QWERTY: fully implemented, consisting of 50% of the base layout, except Right Alt being AltGr instead.
• EurKEY: some aspects have been borrowed from it, like Q/æ/Æ, some vowels with diacritics, and some symbols on the number row.
• US-Int.: some other aspects have been borrowed from it, like K/œ/Œ (only in Linux), and some other letters and symbols are similar on both US-International and EurKEY.
• Some other parts, like the letters with a circumflex, ã/Ã and õ/Õ (for e.g. Portuguese), and the Compose Key implementation are unique to this layout.

Note that the .XCompose and AutoHotkey files themselves will remain under 'GPL v3', instead of 'Public Domain', as their contents are unique to UltimateKEYS with the underlying Compose Key sequences.

Keyboard Layout Image :

Linux - XKB :

Since the base layout has been presented as a candidate for official inclusion into XKB (Linux), I believe that this is a more logical/evident approach due to the mixed nature of this fragment of the code.
Note that XKB itself is based on a variant of MIT, instead of GPL, see also: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=31658#c23

See also: 'xkeyboard-config' issue #498 and its corresponding Merge Request

Windows - MSKLC :

I also consider using 'Public Domain' for the MSKLC version, since the base layout is also fully based on US QWERTY, plus some (fragmented) aspects from EurKEY and US-International; along with the additional code generated by MSKLC itself. I believe that this is also a more logical/evident approach due to its already mixed nature.