>>>>> "Anthony" == Anthony Baxter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Anthony> Python's license is GPL-compatible, so this isn't an
Anthony> issue.
I'm sorry, but you seem to misunderstand what "GPL compatibility"
means. It is a _one-way_ street. A license is GPL-compatible if its
terms permit the code it covers to be redistributed under GPL. The
GPL, however, is "compatible" in this sense only with itself: _the
whole of any work_ derived from a GPL work must be licensed under the
GPL. Not under a GPL-compatible license, under the GPL.
The import of the Ghostscript case is that the FSF considers a
Makefile stanza clearly intended to cause linkage to a GPL library,
even if optional and supplied by the user, to create a work derived
from that library. A "GNU readline"-enabled Python is derived from
GNU readline, and must be distributed under the GPL or not distributed
at all. I assume that the former is not acceptable to Python, and the
latter is clearly undesirable.
I assure you, Peter Deutsch was just as unbelieving as you are<wink>,
but facing a potentially expensive lawsuit, he caved in. I can think
of many reasons why the FSF might not come after Python, but the risk
is real. Please ask a lawyer.
--
School of Systems and Information Engineering http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp
University of Tsukuba Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN
Ask not how you can "do" free software business;
ask what your business can "do for" free software.
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