On 9/23/07, David Joyner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > So the only problem would be software that specifically says "GPL > > version *2*". For the Sage source code itself, we always just write > > > > > > # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) > > > > except in the following files: > > > > interfaces/matlab.py: > > matrix/matrix.pyx: > > matrix/matrix0.pyx: > > matrix/matrix1.pyx: > > matrix/matrix2.pyx: > > matrix/strassen.pyx: > > > > I hold the copyright on all those files above. > > > > However, in the COPYING file for Sage itself, I wrote: "All original > > SAGE code is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public > > License *Version 2*." > > > > Just out of curiosity, would anybody be angry if I were to remove the > > words "*Version 2*" from the above sentence in the COPYING file? > > Evidently nobody (but me) has ever actually submitted any code to Sage where > > they explicitly put "Version 2" in their copyright statement. > > I'm asking this mainly to see what our options are.
I just want to emphasize again, that I'm *not* just suggesting throwing in the towel and switching to GPLv2 or later. I just want to understand what the options are. In particular, if we make Sage all GPLv2 or later, and start including LGPLv3-only GMP, then I think that means all the subtle DRM-related restrictions will apply to Sage. > A legal question: If I write SAGE code (ie, Python code which requires > SAGE's data extra data structures), doesn't that force, by the nature > of the GPL, > my code to be GPL'd, whether it is included in SAGE or not? Definitely *not*. If you write Sage *code*, that code can have absolutely any license you want. You could release it under BSD, under Microsoft Shared Source, public domain, anything. However, of course, to run the program a user will have to obtain a copy of Sage. If you write code that uses Sage, then decide to distribute that code along with a complete copy of Sage, then the combined work would have to be released under GPLv2. But that's not what you were asking. Your question is very similar to: "If I write a program against Java (say) or Microsoft's .NET, does my program have to be --java license-- or --microsoft license--?" The answer is definitely no. William --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-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/sage-devel URLs: http://sage.scipy.org/sage/ and http://modular.math.washington.edu/sage/ -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
