Re: Xoctave - Human interface to GNU Octave

[John W. Eaton]

On 23-Jun-2009, Francesco Potorti` wrote:

| >> The question here is whether Xoctave constitutes a derivative work.
| >> The homepage says Octave is encapsulated using pipes, which is
| >> probably OK (not a derivative work).
| >
| >It is a derived work if XOctave is bundled with Octave when it is shipped so
| >that Octave and XOctave become a single product in the eyes of the
| >user.
| 
| No, this is not a problem either.  Mere aggregation on a distribution
| medium is not covered by the GPL.  Only thing that matters is the
| interaction mechanism.  If Xoctave uses pipes to communicate with
| Octave, they are two very clearly separated programs, and no GPL license
| issues can exist.

My questions weren't really about the letter of the GPL.  I wanted to
know whether this is software that I would be interested in.  If it is
not free software, I'm not very interested in it, and I'd rather not
have people promoting proprietary software on the Octave mailing
lists.

jwe