On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 6:25 PM, Brian Granger <ellisonbg....@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi, > > I have a question about Sage and the GPL. Here is the main question.. > > IF I write code in a Sage notebook, AND I redistribute the code, do I > need to release my code under the GPL? > > Here is a bit of background... > > At a conference in the last year, one of the Sage developers was asked > this question, and their answer was... > > "You can do whatever you want with your code, you don't have to > release it under the GPL"
I'm pretty sure that is correct. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#CanIUseGPLToolsForNF > > In general, I don't think this answer can be right, but I think it is > actually a bit subtle. Here are some of the issues that I see (all of > this assumes that I do want to distribute my code to others)... > > * Is the code pure python or does it use the sage syntax? If the code > uses the sage syntax, I think it must be released under the GPL. > * Does the code being written actually use any GPL libraries (like the > sage python package)? If the code uses GPL libraries, I again think > it must be GPL'd. > * Does the code run without sage? > * Does a sage notebook constitute "source code" in the GPL sense? > * Is a notebook (even one that uses the "python" mode) a derivative > work of sage? > * If a sage notebook is "source code" does clicking "Share" in the > notebook constitute "distribution". In other words, if a bunch of > people start sharing sage notebooks, do they all have to be GPL? > > The usage case I have in mind is using this to teach University > courses in computational physics. I know others are already doing > this (William is right now I think). If I share notebooks with > students and they with me, does everything have to be GPL? If we only > use non-GPL libraries and the "python" mode of the notebook could we > choose a different license? This is relevant, because I need to > clarify these issues for students and faculty who would use Sage in > this manner. It isn't necessarily bad if the answer is "GPL", but we > all need to know this. > > Cheers, > > Brian > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sage-devel-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URLs: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
