On Monday, December 13, 2010 1:39:57 PM UTC+11, Branko Vukelic wrote:Since someone mentioned linking, etc, here's an exceprt from the GNU FAQ: Q. Does prelinking a GPLed binary to various libraries on the system, to optimize its performance, count as modification?
A. No. Prelinking is part of a compilation process; it doesn't introduce any license requirements above and beyond what other aspects of compilation would. If you're allowed to link the program to the libraries at all, then it's fine to prelink with them as well. If you distribute prelinked object code, you need to follow the terms of section 6. I think this answers the original question. You do not violate GPL by having import statements in your code, as you can safely detach your code from web2py and reattach to another copy running somewhere else. No I'll think you find it doesn't imply what you think it does. The prelinking case being talked about as I understand it is where a pre existing non GPL library exists with some published public interface and where someone comes along and writes a GPL variant of the library which adheres to the same published public interface such that the GPL library could be used in place of the original library by prelinking it instead of the original so as to provide a better performing implementation. This is an entirely different situation to use of 'import' statements in Python as in this case the original API was a public API and not an API which is covered by the GPL which is effectively the case with web2py. If I remember correctly, there was a specific case where there once existed a library which was under the GPL and so the API itself, including structure definitions, was effectively covered by the GPL. There were then some issues when some people tried to replace the GPL library with a non GPL version and implement against that instead, so as to specifically get around that a application written against the original GPL library implementation was then covered by the GPL. In other words they were trying to trigger the clause above in reverse, but because the GPL library existed first it was seen as trying to circumvent the GPL. As such, you can't rely on what you quote above. The only way is an exception statement to the GPL and even then that would need to be very carefully worded. In all this you really need a lawyer to look at the situation and draft that exception. If that hasn't been done and some legal evidence provided to show that the way the exception is done is valid and will stand up in a court of law, it is very easy to see why companies, who are going to be very risk averse, would be hesitant to use software that relies on the GPL but with some sort of stated exception where the latter is of unknown validity and with no legal precedent to support it. Graham On Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 3:08 AM, Branko Vukelic <bg.b...@gmail.com> wrote: > http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097742/ > > On Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 2:01 AM, mdipierro <mdip...@cs.depaul.edu> wrote: >> Yes. The GPL prevents users from make a CLOSED SOURCE better >> derivative of the framework. That is exactly what this community wants >> to protect against. That is something that can kill an open source >> project and the reason GPL was invented. >> >> This discussion has nothing to do with users who are not affected. >> >> Please contact me privately about what you want to do. Perhaps you >> need a special license. Depending on what you need to do I may provide >> such license to you. >> >> Massimo >> >> >> On Dec 12, 6:53 pm, pbreit <pbreit...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >> But as you say, BSD/MIT are better for users. >>> > He didn't say that. >>> >>> He said it prevents users from making a better derivative. >>> >>> My apologies to the community and Massimo for be-laboring the point but >>> I think it's unfortunate that the license alone is discouraging use of >>> the framework. I'm very close to selecting Web2py for a large, public >>> project but am having my doubts. > > > > -- > Branko Vukelić > > bg.b...@gmail.com > stu...@brankovukelic.com > > Check out my blog: http://www.brankovukelic.com/ > Check out my portfolio: http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxbunny/ > Registered Linux user #438078 (http://counter.li.org/) > I hang out on identi.ca: http://identi.ca/foxbunny > > Gimp Brushmakers Guild > http://bit.ly/gbg-group > -- Branko Vukelić bg.b...@gmail.com stu...@brankovukelic.com Check out my blog: http://www.brankovukelic.com/ Check out my portfolio: http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxbunny/ Registered Linux user #438078 (http://counter.li.org/) I hang out on identi.ca: http://identi.ca/foxbunny Gimp Brushmakers Guild http://bit.ly/gbg-group
