On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 7:09 PM, David Kirkby <david.kir...@onetel.net>wrote:
> On 29 December 2012 02:39, William Stein <wst...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 5:11 PM, David Kirkby <david.kir...@onetel.net> > > wrote: > >> > >> On 28 December 2012 16:47, William Stein <wst...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > also make it an optional sage package). > >> > >> This is what I was thinking, but I personally thought it worth asking > >> WRI exactly where we stood if using their protocol. > >> > >> At the end of the day, anything you do to circumvent using their > >> shared library, WRI could put a stop to without changing any code - > >> just their license conditions. When Mathematica 10 comes out, one of > >> the conditions of that license is that you can't control Mathematica > >> from external programs without the use of the Mathlink library. At > > > > > > That would not be a problem at all. The very sentence that you were > > half-quoting from my email started: "It will also link in the wolfram > > mathlink library..." so the mathlink library is used. > > The issue there is it can't be used for commerical use - at leasat > without getting a mathlink license. Your paragraph above was about WRI changing their license when Mathematica 10 comes out. > >> which point, although the code would work, it would be against the > >> license to use it. > > > > > > I don't even know what to ask them. Do you want them to change their > > license so that it is GPL-compatible -- that seems ridiculous. > > I think it is ridiculous you asking me such a question. > > IF Sage could do what jmath does, without breaching the GPL and > without breaching Wolfram Research's license, then that would be good. > I'm not so sure it is possible, but it might be. > > I don't see any issue with you creating a program which can link into > the Mathlink library. It is less clear to me what license the person > using the code is then govenend by if they chose to link to the WRI > library. > jmath does not seem to be an example of reverse engineering the MathLink > > wire protocol. The jmath website > > (http://robotics.caltech.edu/~radford/jmath/) explains that jmath is > simply > > an application that links in the MathLink library. > > Agreed. So why do you first mention reverse engineering? I don't see > the point in trying to reverse engineer anything myself. If I write and BSD-license a program that communicates directly with a Mathematica kernel using the Mathlink *protocol* (but does *not* link to any WRI code), then people can use that BSD-licensed program in any other program. This is in sharp contrast to the situation with WRI's own Mathlink library. This is the point. Creating such a program might violate the DMCA. -- William > Dave > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "sage-support" group. > To post to this group, send email to sage-support@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > sage-support+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-support?hl=en. > > > -- William Stein Professor of Mathematics University of Washington http://wstein.org -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-support" group. To post to this group, send email to sage-support@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sage-support+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-support?hl=en.
