On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 12:53 AM, Kevin Jardine <kevinjard...@yahoo.com> wrote: > I'm a Haskell newbie but long time open source developer and I've been > following this thread with some interest. > > The GPL is not just a license - it is a form of social engineering and social > contract. The idea if I use the GPL is that I am releasing free and open > source software to the community. You are welcome to use it for any purpose > but in exchange you must also agree to release any software you create that > uses my software as free and open source. > > That is the difference between GPL and BSD type licenses. The GPL very > deliberately creates an obligation. Yes, that can be inconvenient. It is > meant to be inconvenient. > > Actually the GPL reminds me of a Haskell concept that I am struggling with > right now - the monad. When I started writing Haskell code I was always > trying to mix pure and IO code and I soon learned that once I used the IO > monad I was stuck within it. The monad creates an inconvenient obligation and > any IO code can only be used within other IO code. There are good reasons for > monads (just as, in my view, there are good reasons for the GPL) but using > them means that I need to make a lot of changes to the way I write software.
Sure. You can put a GPL license on any software: license :: a -> GPL a And if you could have used some public domain package 'a' to create some GPL'd software, then you can use the GPL'd 'a' to create that same software. usage :: (a -> GPL b) -> GPL a -> GPL b :-P Luke _______________________________________________ Haskell-Cafe mailing list Haskell-Cafe@haskell.org http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell-cafe
