Re: What does 'terms that are compatible with the GPL' mean?

[Francesco Potortì]

B. Lee:
>>From Octave's FAQ(http://wiki.octave.org/FAQ#Licensing_issues),
>
>Code written using Octave's native plug-in interface (also known as a
>.oct file) necessarily links with Octave internals and is considered a
>derivative work of Octave and therefore must be released under terms
>that are compatible with the GPL.
>
>...
>
>A program that embeds the Octave interpreter (e.g., by calling the
>"octave_main" function), or that calls functions from Octave's
>libraries (e.g., liboctinterp, liboctave, or libcruft) is considered a
>derivative work of Octave and therefore must be released under terms
>that are compatible with the GPL.
>
>Here, 'terms that are compatible with the GPL' appears repeatedly.
>
>At first, I thought that it can be any license in the list of
>GPL-compatible license
>here:https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#GPLCompatibleLicenses
>
>However, the part of '... is considered a derivative work of Octave
>and therefore must be released under terms that are compatible with
>the GPL' makes me confusing.
>
>As far as I know, derivative work of GPLed one should follow GPL
>itself not compatible one.
>
>What are 'terms that are compatible with the GPL', here?

"Compatible with the GPL" has a very peculiar meaning.

If you write an Apache program which links to GPL internals, and you
distribute it in a single bundle, as it is usual, you must release it
under the GPL.  You can do that because the Apache licence is
"compatible" with the GPL, meaning that something that is distribute
with Apache can be redistributed with the GPL, because Apache is in no
way more strict than the GPL.

You cannot distribute your program under terms that are in any way more
restrictive than the GPL is, for example with a proprietary licence or a
free licence which adds any additional requirement.

I am almost sure that you can distribute your bundle under the Affero
licence, but I'd need to check to be certain.

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