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[Help-glpk] OptimJ solver GLPK GPL license compliance


From: Harley Mackenzie
Subject: [Help-glpk] OptimJ solver GLPK GPL license compliance
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:52:10 +0300
User-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2.13) Gecko/20101207 Thunderbird/3.1.7

I believe that at long as OptimJ is not directly linking with the GLPK code and they comply with the other GNU GPL 3 requirements regarding distributing and/or making the source available for the GPL licensed software, they are complying with the license although not the spirit of the license. They could be achieving this requirement by writing a GLPK model and data file to disk and the executing the GLPK via the command line and then parsing the output results.

If they are linking to the GLPK or having Java code link to the GLPK API then I believe there is a serious problem and the code that links to the GPL 3 code is then by definition covered by the GPL 3 license. GLPK is NOT licensed using the 'lesser' version of the GPL (LGPL) that would allow non-GPL software to link to the library without making that software subject to the GPL license.

The present licensing of GLPK has been contentious in the past and I can understand both arguments, but the current GLPK licensing does mean less people are willing to commit commercial resources to its development due to the licensing, but on the other hand it does promote the creation of more free GPL software. There are plenty of commercial codes available for those who want to use and pay for them and so I fully support the current licensing policy as providing a completely free, open and unrestricted alternative, even though it possibly does lead to less use and development of the product.

Regards,

Harley

On 19/01/11 4:32 AM, Robbie Morrison wrote:
Hello GLPK list

I just applied to Ateji, via their website, for a copy
of their free 'OptimJ' version.  They kindly send me
what is probably a Microsoft Windows security key,
judging by the file extension, its binary contents, and
their description, plus instructions for downloading
the main archive.

I think the Ateji team is being a little disingenuous
on this one -- see the forwarded message immediately
below.  As far as I can tell, the free 'OptimJ' version
is only free in the sense that no money changes hands
-- it is not free in the Free Software Foundation
sense:

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Software_Definition

I am not suggesting that Ateji is breaking the GNU
GPLv3 through this process -- although I have no
special knowledge in this regard.

But it would help if Atieji could word their
communications with a little more precision -- in
particular, their response to Larry D'Agostino's
inquiry, in my view, could be interpreted as
misleading.

best wishes
Robbie

------------------------------------------------------------
To:          address@hidden
Subject:     [Fwd: RE: [Help-glpk] ANNOUNCEMENT: OptimJ solver link for
Message-ID:<address@hidden>
From:        Andrew Makhorin<address@hidden>
Date:        Tue, 18 Jan 2011 14:10:22 +0300
------------------------------------------------------------

-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: chtimax<address@hidden>
To: address@hidden
Subject: RE: [Help-glpk] ANNOUNCEMENT: OptimJ solver link for GLPK/Java
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2011 01:30:21 -0800 (PST)

Coming back to Larry's question below, we have recently
taken the decision to contribute OptimJ to the free
software community. We are now offering a free OptimJ
edition that includes our fully featured Java based
modeling language for optimization along with lp_solve
and GLPK solver links.

More details on www.ateji.com/optimj

Best Regards
The Ateji team

D'Agostino, Larry - TX wrote:
Curious.  Why is OptimJ released under a commercial license?  It is based
on Java, can be use as an Eclipse plug-in, and uses a number of free
software or open source solvers.

Is Optimj contributing back to the free software community?

I don't mean to call you out on this just wondering why.

Larry
http://industrialengineertools.blogspot.com

-----Original Message-----
From: help-glpk-bounces+larry.d'address@hidden
[mailto:help-glpk-bounces+larry.d'address@hidden On
Behalf Of Patrick Viry
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 8:52 AM
To: address@hidden
Subject: [Help-glpk] ANNOUNCEMENT: OptimJ solver link for GLPK/Java

Dear all,

It is our pleasure to announce the availability of an OptimJ solver
link for GLPK.

OptimJ is a new Java-based algebraic modeling language with powerful
constructs for data modeling and bulk data processing. Models are
expressed in a high-level mathematical notation and benefit from all
Java libraries and development tools. They can be deployed directly
within any Java-based IT environment.

You'll find more information at http://www.ateji.com/optimj.html,
including whitepapers and code samples. You can also browse the
newsletter archive at http://www.ateji.com/newsletter.html for
specific topics. Questions and comments are welcome in the user forums
at http://forums.ateji.com/.

The software can be downloaded for evaluation at
http://www.ateji.com/downloads.html. Free licences are available for
teachers and students.

Regards,

The Ateji team.
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