A lot of the discussion has centered around integrating Blender in a production system based on proprietary software. I'd like to bring up the following two points:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLInProprietarySystem I'd like to incorporate GPL-covered software in my proprietary system. Can I do this? A system incorporating a GPL-covered program is an extended version of that program. The GPL says that any extended version of the program must be released under the GPL if it is released at all. (...) 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. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLAndPlugins If a program released under the GPL uses plug-ins, what are the requirements for the licenses of a plug-in? It depends on how the program invokes its plug-ins. If the program uses fork and exec to invoke plug-ins, then the plug-ins are separate programs, so the license for the main program makes no requirements for them. I really think the problems brought up in this discussion are best solved by being smarter about how the integration is handled. (It is possible to integrate GPL programs in a proprietary system, if not, we'd really have problems.) It's a lot easier than doing a wholesale re-licensing of the code - something which, as far as I can see, completely lacks support among the main contributors; and furthermore would not solve anything, as the "interface" required in section 0 of the LGPL isn't defined by Blender. Unless the interface is clearly defined (no, header files don't count - they define internal interfaces, not necessarily library interfaces; consider linux - it has many headers, but only some are considered OK to use in proprietary code). /LS _______________________________________________ Bf-committers mailing list Bf-committers@blender.org http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers