Re: New Octave package "OCL" providing OpenCL support

[Mike Miller]

On Sat, May 25, 2019 at 16:57:08 +0200, Matthias W. Klein wrote:
> do you see any GPL3 license issues with OCL dynamically linking to any
> free or non-free OpenCL library?

I don't, as long as there are free OpenCL stacks that do work. It seems
very similar to the situation with non-free OpenGL drivers. Is that a
good comparison, are there any major differences between OpenGL and
OpenCL with respect to the various free and non-free implementations?

> To my understanding, these are collectively "System Libraries" (maybe
> because of the existence of Mesa / Clover), but your assessment will be
> highly valued!

IMHO this doesn't really matter. The way I read it, the System Library
exception is a way of saying your program can depend on POSIX and it
doesn't matter whether the operating system is GNU or Solaris or macOS.

For OpenGL and OpenCL, I don't think it matters whether they can be
called System Libraries or not. What matters is that your programs works
with any free OpenCL stacks that are under compatible free licenses. If
the user opts to drop in a different non-free OpenCL driver, that's
their choice.

IANAL, none of this is legal advice, but if you want legal advice, maybe
ask the FSF Licensing team [1].

[1]: https://www.fsf.org/licensing/

-- 
mike

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