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Do you know if this will have any implications for applications built on it (will they be forced to use GPL)?

by cobbal 16y ago

pavlov 16y ago
GNUStep is LGPL, which is less strict that GPL. Applications can link dynamically to LGPL libraries without needing to adopt the license.
xiaomai 16y ago
GNUstep is actually licensed under the LGPL, so applications that link against GNUstep libs are not required to be similarly licensed. If GNUstep were GPL, however, the app would also need to be GPL'ed. This is how Trolltech used to charge money for commercial use of Qt. Qt was dual-licensed under the GPL and a commercial license, so GPL'ed software could freely use the library, but non-GPL software would have to pay for the commercial license.
- rbanffy 16y ago
  Oops... Correct. GNUStep is LGPL. I should start writing * GPL as I do with * BSD As for linking proprietary code do GPL'ed libraries, the license is not explicit. However, according to Larry Rosen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License#Point_of_view:_linking_is_irrelevant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License#Poin...) linking, even statically, does not make a derived work (that would be subject to being GPL'ed by accident). Also, the GPLv3 has some different wording. I understand the GPLv3 makes it less likely a program linked to a GPL'ed library will be considered derivative.
rbanffy 16y ago
My bad. As pavlov and xiaomai pointed out, GNUStep is LGPL. Sorry to create this confusion. From the GNUStep site (http://www.gnustep.org/information/aboutGNUstep.html http://www.gnustep.org/information/aboutGNUstep.html): "The GNUstep libraries are covered under the GNU Lesser (Library) Public License. This generally means you can use these libraries in any program (even non-free programs) without affecting the license of your program or any other libraries GNUstep is linked with. If you distribute the GNUstep libraries along with your program, you must make the improvements you have made to the GNUstep libraries freely available."

Do you know if this will have any implications for applications built on it (will they be forced to use GPL)?

by cobbal 16y ago

Do you know if this will have any implications for applications built on it (will they be forced to use GPL)?

GNUStep is LGPL, which is less strict that GPL. Applications can link dynamically to LGPL libraries without needing to adopt the license.

xiaomai 16y ago

GNUstep is actually licensed under the LGPL, so applications that link against GNUstep libs are not required to be similarly licensed. If GNUstep were GPL, however, the app would also need to be GPL'ed. This is how Trolltech used to charge money for commercial use of Qt. Qt was dual-licensed under the GPL and a commercial license, so GPL'ed software could freely use the library, but non-GPL software would have to pay for the commercial license.

rbanffy 16y ago
Oops... Correct. GNUStep is LGPL. I should start writing * GPL as I do with * BSD As for linking proprietary code do GPL'ed libraries, the license is not explicit. However, according to Larry Rosen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License#Point_of_view:_linking_is_irrelevant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License#Poin...) linking, even statically, does not make a derived work (that would be subject to being GPL'ed by accident). Also, the GPLv3 has some different wording. I understand the GPLv3 makes it less likely a program linked to a GPL'ed library will be considered derivative.

rbanffy 16y ago

My bad. As pavlov and xiaomai pointed out, GNUStep is LGPL. Sorry to create this confusion. From the GNUStep site (http://www.gnustep.org/information/aboutGNUstep.html http://www.gnustep.org/information/aboutGNUstep.html): "The GNUstep libraries are covered under the GNU Lesser (Library) Public License. This generally means you can use these libraries in any program (even non-free programs) without affecting the license of your program or any other libraries GNUstep is linked with. If you distribute the GNUstep libraries along with your program, you must make the improvements you have made to the GNUstep libraries freely available."