On Thu, Nov 21, 2002 at 10:07:34PM -0800, Joshua Haberman wrote: > Matt Zimmerman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > This is a common misconception, but entirely untrue. There are many > > free software licenses, including the BSD-style licenses, which are > > compatible with the GPL. > > However the combined work of a GPL'd library and a BSD-licensed > application would indeed have to be distributed under the terms of the > GPL, correct? It just happens that the application's source code in this > case is dual licensed.
Yes, it is required that the program be made available to anyone under the terms of the GPL. But this does not mean that non-GPL software cannot use the library; it simply means that the resulting derived work must be made available under the terms of the GPL. > Indeed, it is in the interest of people who make bugfixes or improvements > to contribute them back to the original project. Otherwise, they have to > do the extra work of tracking the main releases against their > modifications. Agreed, especially when the original project demonstrates continued improvement and leadership. > > I don't understand...a BSD license grants permission to redistribute the > > software freely; it does not make sense to charge a fee for software > > under this license because once it is given, the purchaser may give > > copies to anyone. > > If a company has paid a large sum of money for a BSD-licensed piece of > software they intend to use commercially, why are they going to give away > copies for free to their competitors? Anyone who had possession of the BSD-licensed source code could legally give away a copy to anyone else. Whether this would be in the company's best interest is another matter, but once it happens, the BSD-licensed software is "in the wild" and cannot be contained and made available only to certain parties. > Still, using a more restrictive license for companies who wish to keep > their modifications private achieves the same goals without the risk of > letting a BSD-licensed copy go into the wild (assuming you wish to keep it > GPL). Agreed. I believe this is the Qt model. -- - mdz ------------------------------------------------------- This sf.net email is sponsored by:ThinkGeek Welcome to geek heaven. http://thinkgeek.com/sf _______________________________________________ Flac-dev mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flac-dev
