On Apr 12, 11:18 am, Pierre Joye <pierre....@gmail.com> wrote: > hi, > > On Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 2:55 PM, Bill Hart <goodwillh...@googlemail.com> wrote: > > On 9 April 2010 13:23, Marc <marc.gli...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hello, > > >> I am not sure I understand what is going on with MPIR. When the fork > >> happened, 2 of the main stated goals where: > >> 1) LGPL2 (required for sage+microsoft) > >> --> MPIR is now LGPL3+ only > > > Correct. Will this create any issues for you? > > What are the appealing reasons for this move given one of the initial > arguments for mpir (gmp license changes)?
In my view the main reasons for doing this are: (a) many developers of cutting edge multiple precision algorithms have decided to publish code with a v3+ license (b) the majority of MPIR users want 'drop in' compatibility with GMP, which has an LGPL v3+ license. To meet these needs while keeping a v2+ license would require a massive ongoing development effort to re-implement v3+ code with a v2+ license. Since there is no relaistic prospect of such development effort being found, we either have to move to an LGPL v3+ license or stay with v2+ and accept that MPIR will not be GMP compatible and will not have the cutting edge performance offerred by v3+ developers. > Readinghttp://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html, I really wonder if this > is a good move. I don't feel comfortable to add the GPL license to the > PHP distribution (see the section 3b, 4b and 4c) as the PHP license is > not compatible with the GPL. Things can get worst as we are testing > mpir to be used with php engine for large integers related operations. It's not ideal - I would call this license change 'the least worst option'. In short, continuing to offer a state of the art LGPL v2+ licensed multiple precision library will require a large increase in the MPIR developer community. > I also have concerns about the legal aspects of the lgpl v3. I know > that the v2 can be used safely but I've a bad feeling about the v3. > Does anyone have more in depth details about the actual changes > between the two? This seems to be a difficult issue with lawyers in different organisations taking different views. I know of companies who intend to use LGPL v3+ licensed code in commercial software products without the latter becoming subject to GPL licensing. But I also know of companies who think this is not possible. Brian -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "mpir-devel" group. To post to this group, send email to mpir-de...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to mpir-devel+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mpir-devel?hl=en.