[Savannah-hackers] Fwd: Re: [gnu.org #206952] GPL compatibility address@hidden

[Sylvain Beucler]

FYI

--
Sylvain


----- Begin Forwarded Message -----
Date: 2004.08.10 00:41
Subject: Re: [gnu.org #206952] GPL compatibility
From: "address@hidden via RT" <address@hidden>
To: address@hidden
Message-ID: <address@hidden>

On Sat, 2004-08-07 at 05:22, Sylvain Beucler via RT wrote:
> Hello,
>
> On 2004.08.04 19:06 address@hidden via RT wrote:
> > On Thu, 2004-07-29 at 19:05, Sylvain Beucler via RT wrote:
> > > Thanks again.
> > >
> > > I have a last question: I adviced the author with several
> > > possibilities, including adding a notice allowing linking his GPL
> > > program with MAPM.
> > >
> > > I found such a notice from project OpenSSL:
> > > http://www.openssl.org/support/faq.html#LEGAL2
> > >
> > > However, I would like to confirm Scicalc's author could use a
> > similar
> > > notice to allow his GPL program to use MAPM. I do not 100% trust
> > this
> > > FAQ, since I find assuming that OpenSSL is part of the operating
> > system
> > > is a weak argument.
> >
> > I'm not sure what FSF's position on OpenSSL and the major components
> > exception is.  I do know that if you want your program to be
portable
> > to Windows, where OpenSSL *definitely* isn't normally distributed,
you
> > should use an exception.
> >
> > > The GPL FAQ contains a similar statements, but aimed at
> > communication
> > > between two libraries through a given interface.
> >
> > Note that for incompatible licenses, you may need permissions both
> > ways.  For example, for Gnuplot, you would need permission to
> > distribute modified versions in non-patch forms.
>
> Do we need an exception if it is only a dependency (ie the user will
> not release a modified version of MAPM)?

Maybe.

Best would be for MAPM to be licensed under GPL-compatible terms.
Second best would be for MAPM to explicitly allow linking to software
distributed under the same terms as SciCalc (paste the terms in).  It
won't work to mention SciCalc only, since you want people to be able to
fork and modify SciCalc.



--
-Dave Turner
GPL Compliance Engineer
Support my work: http://svcs.affero.net/rm.php?r=novalis&p=FSF





----- End Forwarded Message -----