Re: [Gcl-devel] Re: [gnu.org #48656] Re: GCL compliance with GNU GPL

[Camm Maguire]

Greetings!  Please accept my apologies for misunderstanding your
earlier note.  I suppose its showing by this point that I'm not a
lawyer :-).

OK, allow me to try to revise my earlier email here.  I take it that
the most desirable licensing option for GCL now is what I had earlier
referred to as option 2), as you state below, licensing GCL under the
LGPL when not configured to link against readline, and under the GPL
otherwise.  I'm not sure what this imples for lisp code built using
GCL, but as the option of the original LGPL without readline is there
for the authors of such programs to use as before, it would still
appear that this option is workable.  Let us assume most
conservatively that third party lisp programs built using GCL linking
against readline must then also be distributed under the GPL.  I'm
assuming this is analogous to the situation with CLISP, i.e. the
clause allowing proprietary common lisp images making use of only a
certain interface only applies when clisp is not configured to use
readline, in which latter case the image must be distributed under the
GPL.  If this is true, then our scheme would be somewhat more friendly
to proprietary images than clisp, as without readline we replace
clisp's 'GPL + complicated standard interface clause' with LGPL.

The task then remains of how to clearly indicate this situation in the
relevant COPYING files and on the website.


Comments and corrections most welcome.

Take care,


Richard Stallman <address@hidden> writes:

>     OK, so I take it that technically this means that, in Sam Steingold's
>     approximate earlier words, that GCL has special permission to use
>     readline under the LGPL.  Thanks!
> 
> We seem to be having a misunderstanding.  I did not say that.  You
> can't "use readline under the LGPL".  Readline is released under the
> GPL, and only the GPL.
> 
> The LGPL is compatible with the GPL.  GCL can be released under the
> LGPL, and used without Readline under the LGPL.
> 
> When you combine GCL and Readline, the license that applies to the
> combination is the GPL.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 

-- 
Camm Maguire                                            address@hidden
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