Re: Scilab is now GPL v2 compatible - as the site claims

[Søren Hauberg]

søn, 21 09 2008 kl. 20:08 +0200, skrev Francesco Potorti`:
> >> so actually Scilab is GPL v2 (or later) compatible. Since Octave is
> >> GPL v3 (or later) I guess this means that we can take their code, but
> >> they can't take ours?
> >
> >I think your conclusion is correct - since GPL v2 is less restrictive
> >than GPL v3.
> 
> Why so?  
> 
> As far as I understand, in one direction Octave can take a Scilab
> function with its license; bundle it together with the rest of Octave;
> distribute the bundle under the GPL.  All this is independent of the GPL
> version.
> 
> In the other direction, Scilab can probably take an Octave function with
> its license; distribute both Scilab and the Octave function together,
> but only as long as they are not linked together.  For example, a .m
> file would be okay, but I think an .oct file would not.
> 
> Comments, corrections?

I think this is true, but you are assuming that the scilab people would
accept distributing GPLv3+ code. If they don't mind that some of their
m-code is GPLv3+ then I think they can do it. But most projects actually
mind having more than one license, so I doubt it'll actually happen.

Søren