Hi Eric,
On 8/17/09 7:05 AM, Eric J Korpela wrote:
> Well, at this point s...@home is all GPL code unless we agree to release
> it under a different license. We also use ASMLIB, but that is neither
> required nor irreplaceable. In order to release s...@home under a
> different license we would need to remove the FFTW and ASMLIB related
> portions of the code.
If I understand correctly, you would also need permission from all the
s...@home developers who did development under GPL.
> Regarding the CUDA libraries, you could make a strong case that they are
> part of the operating system of the GPU, because the GPU can't be used
> without them.
I think this is a weak argument...
> Even if that isn't the case, the libraries are shipped
> with any compiler capable of compiling the CUDA code (which is the other
> exception written into the license),
Here, by 'the license' you mean 'the GPL license'?
> so if you have the compiler then
> you have the ability to compile the code and you have the ability to run
> the code (both of which are the main point of the GPL). Essentially
> it's the same reason that it's legal to link to MSVCRT.DLL.
I do not think this is sharply different from the situation with the
Intel Math Kernel Libraries. These libraries are often bundled with the
ICC compiler. I would argue that these are needed to fully exploit the
native CPU hardware.
> If this weren't the case it wouldn't be possible to use CUDA, OpenCL,
> Cg, or most any GPU language in GPL code.
But that's exactly the point I am making. From what Nicolás has said
(assuming it is correct) it then follows that 'pure' GPL code can not be
linked against the CUDA library without violating the GPL.
> I have questioned whether BOINC should be shipping the cuda DLLs with
> the apps, or whether apps should be using the ones shipped with BOINC or
> the ones installed with the drivers. But that's not really a GPL issue.
Agreed, that is a separate question.
I am simply asking about whether or not 'pure GPL' science code is
allowed to link to proprietary libraries such as CUDA, IMKL, or ACML,
since all of these libraries carry more restrictive licenses than the
GPL license. It seems that the answer is 'no'.
Cheers,
Bruce
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