Re: [Toon-members] TooN license on Savannah

[Georg Klein]

Yeah that "as part of a free software library" is not clear on first reading. It's taken from the GNU libstdc++ license, and the combo is generally referred to as `GPLv2 plus runtime exceptions' (as far as I can tell.) I think the "as part of a free software library" refers to it being part of TooN or libstdc++, so that as long as you use the code as part of TooN, then do whatever you want.

If that's not the case, then all commercial C++ apps which use the STL on apple (xcode uses g++ / libstdc++) are falling foul of the license - seems unlikely.

See http://opensource.apple.com/source/gcc/gcc-5484/libstdc++-v3/docs/html/17_intro/license.html?txt

On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 8:46 AM, Simon Taylor <address@hidden> wrote:

Georg Klein wrote:
> Hey folks,
>
> the savannah page still has TooN listed as LGPL, and this can't be
> changed, you have to contact the savannah admins. Any objections to me
> doing this?

I'm not quite sure where Ed got the new TooN license from. I think the
spirit of it is "if you use it unmodified then do whatever you want with
it, but you must submit any modifications to us".

However the TooN COPYING file says:
---
[...GPL v2 blah...]
As a special exception, you may use these files as part of a free
software library without restriction. [...]
---
Note the *free software* in the last sentence, which seemingly forbids
commercial use.

It seems to me the exception we want is the same as the GNU Classpath
(Java base classes):

Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is
making a combined work based on this library. Thus, the terms and
conditions of the GNU General Public License cover the whole combination.

As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you
permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an
executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent
modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under terms
of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked independent
module, the terms and conditions of the license of that module. An
independent module is a module which is not derived from or based on
this library. If you modify this library, you may extend this exception
to your version of the library, but you are not obligated to do so. If
you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement from your version.

http://www.gnu.org/software/classpath/license.html

I suppose one could argue that as TooN is all templates, the terminology
of "linking this library" doesn't really apply though.

Simon

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