On 4/20/10 1:09 PM, Brendan Miller wrote:
Python provides a GNU readline interface... since readline is a GPLv3
library, doesn't that make python subject to the GPL? I'm confused
because I thought python had a more BSD style license.
The PSF License is more BSD-styled, yes. The readline module can also be
built against the API-compatible, BSD-licensed libedit library. Python's
source distribution (even the readline module source) does not have to
be subject to the GPL, though it should be (and is) GPL-compatible.
Also, I presume programs written with the readline interface would
still be subject to GPL... might want to put a warning about that in
the python library docs.
*When* someone builds a binary of the Python readline module against the
GNU readline library, then that binary module is subject to the terms of
the GPL. Any programs that distribute with and use that binary are also
subject to the terms of the GPL (though it can have a non-GPL,
GPL-compatible license like the PSF License). This only applies when
they are combined with the GNU readline library, not before. The program
must have a GPL-compatible license in order to be distributed that way.
It can also be distributed independently of GNU readline under any license.
--
Robert Kern
"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though
it had
an underlying truth."
-- Umberto Eco
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