Re: [open-cobol-list] Re: Deprecating db1

[Keisuke Nishida]

Hi Roger,

The reason I made DB/DB1 support optional is because their
licenses add more restrictions over LGPL.  You MUST follow
the Berkeley DB license (or original BSD license if you use
libdb1) when you enabled --with-db1 or --with-db.  By making
these flags optional, I wanted the user of open-cobol to know
what they mean exactly.

Roger While wrote:
> Bernard, I do not think the second part is true.
> Here is an excerpt from the product licensing :
> -------
> Do I have to pay for a Berkeley DB license to use it in my Perl or 
> Python scripts?
> No, you may use the Berkeley DB open source license at no cost.
> The Berkeley DB open source license requires that software that uses
> Berkeley DB be freely redistributable. In the case of Perl or Python,
> that software is Perl or Python, and not your scripts. Any scripts you 
> write
> are your property, including scripts that make use of Berkeley DB.
> None of the Perl, Python or Berkeley DB licenses place any restrictions
> on what you may do with them.
> -------

COBOL is not a scripting language.  cobc compiles your
COBOL code into a binary, which will eventually be
linked with libcob and libdb.  In this case, your
software uses Berkeley DB, I guess.

> Which is a very clear statement.
> So, we just have to make sure that OC license is OK.
> At the moment the library is under LGPL.
> Keisuke, do we have any problem relaxing it to GPL ?

If libcob was GPL, you would have to distribute your
COBOL programs under GPL.  Is that what you want?

Keisuke

> Roger
>
> > One big problem I see with deprecating DB1,
> > is the License issue:
> > If you use anything beyond 1.85, you have to follow
> > the GPL license pour DB, which means you have to
> > provide the OC RTL under GPL (which may be fine),
> > BUT you ALSO have to provide anything which uses the
> > OC RTL under GPL, in particular your COBOL code,
> > which precludes to use OC for any COBOL software
> > you would like to keep the source non public.
> > And in this case, the potential for OC would be much
> > restricted.
>
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
> SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide
> Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users.
> Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now.
> http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click
> _______________________________________________
> open-cobol-list mailing list
> address@hidden
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/open-cobol-list