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I love Xapian, the quality of its recall is excellent and indexing performance very hard to find fault with. There's just a tiny problem - it's stuck with the G
by _wmd 8y ago
I love Xapian, the quality of its recall is excellent and indexing performance very hard to find fault with. There's just a tiny problem - it's stuck with the GPL, despite a long effort to relicence the code going back years.
- Kronuz 8y agoMaybe xapian library just needs a little push from a larger community to make relicensing faster, Xapiand could help towards that end by helping brining in more people which can help. Xapiand source code is itself licensed as MIT (before compiling), and xapian community is already taking big steps towards relicensing.
- vkazanov 8y agoRemind me what's wrong with GPL, here? You can't repackage and resell it?
- ddorian43 8y agoYou can't include it in your code and sell your software without distributing the source.
- vkazanov 8y agoYeah, a pity
- pedrocr 8y agoIs there actually precedent for a GPL library, clearly setup to be consumed with an API, to require GPL of the whole binary? On the one hand that's clearly not the case in the Linux API, on the other hand the LGPL exists. But was curious if this is actually settled or just too murky to live with.
- ddorian43 8y agoThere are many gpl/lgpl dbs with bsd drivers (ex: scylladb). Dont know about library though (you should be able to use the library externally I think just like you do with the db)
- detaro 8y agoThe Linux kernel has explicit rules for the cases where it allows it: An explicit license exception for the syscall interface, stating that calling it from userspace is freely allowed: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/LICENSES/exceptions/Linux-syscall-note?h=v5.0-rc2 https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/lin... And modules, e.g. drivers, have various statements from Linus on how they're not necessarily considered derived works of the kernel/linked to the kernel, e.g. http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Kernel/proprietary-kernel-modules.html http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Kernel/proprietary-kernel-modules.... or http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0312.0/0670.html http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0312.0/0670.html
- pedrocr 8y agoI know the situation of the Linux kernel. The discussion hinges on what is a "derived work". Kernel modules are very interlinked with the kernel, particularly since there are no stable APIs inside the kernel. It seems strange that just linking to a GPL library that defined an API makes you a derived work. But that is the FSF position: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Readline#Choice_of_the_GPL_as_GNU_Readline's_license https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Readline#Choice_of_the_GPL... This is why I always do libs as LGPL but it seems strange to me that it's even needed. If I've defined a proper opaque API, to be consumed by external code I know nothing about, it's strange to then argue that library callers are derived works and LGPL is explicitly needed.
- dsr_ 8y agoOther libraries might require you to pay them money. GPL software requires you to pay your debt in source code, instead.
- ddorian43 8y agoI was explaining, not complaining.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]