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Re: [smartquant] Re: GPL license violation? [GNU Scientific Library]


Brian,

not exactly, see lines from GPL FAQ. Moreover, if I distribute libGSL under
GPL (or whatever compatible license) together with R-Quant kernel which is
not under GPL, would it solve your problem?

Cheers,
Anton

However, in many cases you can distribute the GPL-covered software alongside
your proprietary system. To do this validly, you must make sure that the free
and
non-free programs communicate at arms length, that they are not combined in a
way that would make them effectively a single program.

The difference between this and "incorporating" the GPL-covered software is
partly a matter of substance and partly form. The substantive part is this:
if the two
programs are combined so that they become effectively two parts of one
program, then you can't treat them as two separate programs. So the GPL has
to cover the
whole thing.

If the two programs remain well separated, like the compiler and the kernel,
or like an editor and a shell, then you can treat them as two separate
programs--but you
have to do it properly. The issue is simply one of form: how you describe
what you are doing. Why do we care about this? Because we want to make sure
the users
clearly understand the free status of the GPL-covered software in the
collection.

If people were to distribute GPL-covered software calling it "part of" a
system that users know is partly proprietary, users might be uncertain of
their rights regarding
the GNU software. But if they know that what they have received is a free
program plus another program, side by side, their rights will be clear.

Cheers,
Anton

Brian Gough wrote:

> Anton,
> I read the follow-up discussions on the smartquant list about GSL
> wrappers in R-quant.  I'm not sure what license these wrappers are
> under but if it is the R-quant license then there is a problem.
>
> Any distributed code which refers to GSL functions should be licensed
> to the end-user under the GPL.  The intent of the GPL is that we make
> our code free to other people if they do the same for us --- two-way
> cooperation.  The current R-quant license is not a free software
> license so there should not be anything distributed under that license
> which directly refers to GSL functions.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> Brian Gough
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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