Re: [Help-gsl] GPL violation?

[Herman Bruyninckx]

On Wed, 9 Dec 2009, Johannes Buchner wrote:

> I found a software package that uses the GSL, but is not licensed under
> a OSS license.
> Please correct me if I'm wrong, but users of the GSL have to license
> any code that uses the GSL -- links against it -- as GPL, right?
> It is also my understanding that the GSL does not necessarily have to be
> distributed itself.
> Most of that packages code is Fortran, but one standalone C file/tool
> uses GSL functions. There is no license statement. It is distributed as
> source code, without containing a version of the GSL.
>
> I contacted the author, but dispite citing the GSL website:
> > If I wanted to distribute an application which uses GSL, what license
> > would I need to use? The GNU General Public License (GPL).
> and http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#IfLibraryIsGPL, the author
> doesn't believe the software has to be GPL, because he/she is not
> distributing code written by someone else.
>
> I'd be glad to get some help for arguing (or maybe I'm wrong).

All depends on the interpretation of "derived work" (and this
interpretation can change from country to country...): if one piece of
software is developed independently of another one, one has a strong legal
argument. But all depends on the judges interpretation of "independent".
So, the traditional interpretation as you give is the cleanest, but also
the most extreme.

Herman

> On a somewhat related note, can users of the GSL choose to make their
> code GPLv2 if it is still compatible with the 'old' GSL versions that
> didn't have GPLv3?
>
> Best regards,
> Johannes
>
> --
> Emails können geändert, gefälscht und eingesehen werden. Signiere oder
> verschüssele deine Mails mit GPG.

--
  K.U.Leuven, Mechanical Eng., Mechatronics & Robotics Research Group
    <http://people.mech.kuleuven.be/~bruyninc> Tel: +32 16 328056
  EURON Coordinator (European Robotics Research Network) <http://www.euron.org>
  Open Realtime Control Services <http://www.orocos.org>
  Associate Editor JOSER <http://www.joser.org>, IJRR <http://www.ijrr.org>