On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 4:20 PM, user923005 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Oct 31, 1:13 pm, "Bill Hart" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Thanks for your comments user923005. You can use GPL code in a >> commercial environment. You just can't distribute it with and make it >> a part of a commercial product. So you can use it for work, you just >> can't sell it. That's fair enough in my view. If I write the code for >> free, I can't see why others ought to be able to sell it unless >> something is given back. >> >> Currently all of MPIR is LGPL by the way, though our intention is to >> have LGPL and GPL versions eventually. Some of our code we definitely >> want to remain GPL. This is because a number of mathematical software >> companies have not given code back to the open source community but >> used LGPL mathematical software in their code. > > If they improve the LGPL portion of it, then they are breaking the law > not to return their improvements.
It depends a lot on how they make the improvements, e.g., one could implement a better function foo that uses the LGPL library as a building block, but doesn't involving actually changing the LGPL'd library. Of course, Bill said nothing above about improvements. Instead, he specifically said "a number of mathematical software companies have not given code back to the open source community but used LGPL mathematical software in their code." He is refereeing to Maplesoft, Wolfram, and Magma, whose relationships with the open source community could be better. > It's none of my business what license policy you choose. I am just > saying that GPLv3 will mean that it won't get used commercially. If > that is your goal, then it is perfectly fine. It all depends on what > you want to happen with the tool set in the long run. eMPIRe will be used commercially. The GPLv3 version of eMPIRe might not be, but the LGPLv3 version certainly will be. > I lament that some excellent software cannot be used for some > interesting tasks because of the license policy. I also lament that some excellent software can't be used the way I want because it is expensive and/or closed source. The situation with, e.g., Magma right now is very frustrating. William --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "mpir-devel" group. To post to this group, send email to mpir-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mpir-devel?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
