Well, if Freetype were only distributed under the GPL, you couldn't
distribute matplotlib in binary form without providing the source code.
However, Freetype is distributed under more than one license. (see:
https://www.freetype.org/license.html )
Because it's distributed under a BSD-style license in addition to the GPL,
it can be distributed in binary form, subject to an accreditation clause:
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/freetype/freetype2.git/tree/docs/FTL.TXT
In the past, I have gotten approval from corporate lawyers at a very large
company to use freetype (and matplotlib) in an application that was being
distributed in binary form. The dual-licensing of freetype was key in that
particular case.
Or that's my take on it, anyway. I'm not a Lawyer, so don't consider this
legal advice in any way.
Cheers!
-Joe
On Fri, Feb 17, 2017 at 4:52 PM, Paul Hobson wrote:
> Chad,
>
> My recollections is that matplotlib doesn't distribute the source code to
> FreeType, it only uses it as a dependency. As such, MPL is in the clear
> with its more permissive licensing.
> -Paul
>
> On Fri, Feb 17, 2017 at 12:45 PM, CAB wrote:
>
>> Hi, All,
>>
>> I just went to install matplotlib version 2.0.0, and it has a dependency
>> called "freetype". This software appears to be licensed under GPL3. My
>> reading of that latter license is that, if someone wanted to distribute a
>> compiled version of a program requiring matplotlib, that entire program
>> would fall under the GPL3 license. I'm sure that would be a non-starter
>> for many, many projects.
>>
>> Does anyone have any takes on this?
>>
>> Chad
>>
>>
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