On 9/7/10 12:27 PM, Anders Logg wrote: > On Tue, Sep 07, 2010 at 08:26:03AM +0530, Harish Narayanan wrote: >> On 9/6/10 7:13 PM, Anders Logg wrote: >>> eA bunch of different licenses are used for various FEniCS components, >>> mostly different versions of GPL and LGPL. >>> >>> I would be practical to clean up among the licenses and maybe even use >>> the same license for all components. At least, we should settle on >>> either GPL or LGPL v3 or any later version for all components. One >>> immediate benefit is that a common license would simplify packaging >>> for Debian/Ubuntu since that requires listing all licenses used and >>> that involves some work (even for DOLFIN alone!). >>> >>> One implication is the need for changing the DOLFIN license which is >>> now LGPL v2.1. >>> >>> An important point to consider is the potential implication of the GPL >>> license used in FFC and UFL, which might force GPL on DOLFIN. >>> >>> I have added a blueprint: >>> >>> https://blueprints.launchpad.net/fenics/+spec/license >>> >>> Please comment here and on the blueprint whiteboard. >> >> Are there any plans for a proprietary product built atop the FEniCS >> components? (Imagine a fancy GUI frontend or something.) Or posed in >> another way, how would the community feel if something like this was >> built on FEniCS, and sold by someone else (or one of their own) for >> profit? (And not have any of their cool extensions contributed back.) > > There are no concrete plans that I know of, but I have had many > questions about the choice of license and possibilities for making > proprietary products on top of FEniCS.
I guess the question is how one feels about this, as therein lies the difference between LGPL and GPL. And since there are many votes for LGPL---and it will likely win this little vote---I will voice my support for GPL. As in, if in the future there exists some cool frontend or something for FEniCS, I would like such a tool (or its underlying enhancements) to be freely available for teaching students and such. > GPL tends to be my default choice of license, but there are advantages > to LPGL, one of them being that it can be converted to GPL at will (by > anyone). ;-) But the code just before this change can (and will) be forked by someone looking to make a buck, and bundle their proprietary app on top. Harish _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~fenics Post to : [email protected] Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~fenics More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
