[gdal-dev] Licensing Policy for drivers and applications

[Patrick Cannon]

This is exactly why many commercial applications do not or can not port to 
Linux.

The GPL is a virus license, if you really wanted the code to be "free" it 
would be released under an MIT style license.  The GPL/LGPL is just another 
proprietary license scheme that is meant to prevent people from using the 
code in any commercial venture.  Which is OK if you are a government agency 
or a school.

There are many format suppliers that do not allow their IP to be exposed, 
Maptech is a good example.  The BSB 3 format was reverse engineered but, no 
one has gotten permission to "publish" the BSB 4 or 5 formats.

We supported this format on Linux and Mac and have signed license agreements 
that prevent the release of the code.  Which means we can not 
utilize "tainted" GPL/LGPL code in our applications.  Which is unfortunate 
for the users, as they do not have the "choice" of turning on other 
drivers.

I would agree with Ray, do not put the limiter in GDAL instead put it in the 
OSGeo4W code base. 

Best regards,
Patrick Cannon
Barco Software LLC
www.barcosoft.com
www.barcosoft.net

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On Tuesday 01 February 2011 12:49:19 am strk wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 08:59:25PM -0800, Ray Gardener wrote:
> > I should ask, is it okay for commercial apps to include GPL'd drivers
> > currently? What would happen if my app included one? Do I have to wait
> > for it to be under LGPL?
> >
> > I don't mind at all sharing any changes I may make to such drivers, but
> > if I can't even include the drivers, that seems excessive.
>
> You can include the drivers, and your application can be commercial.
> Only, you have to give your customers the rights to get your
> application's source code, to modify it and to redistribute it.
>
> If you don't want to do that, ask the GPL driver copyright holders
> if they agree on you putting the code they allowed you to use,
> look at, modify and distribute into something they can NOT look at,
> modify or distribute.
>
> Sounds kind of unfair to me, but they may have a different opinion
> (or business plan) on the matter.
>
> --strk;
>
>   ()   Free GIS & Flash consultant/developer
>   /\   http://strk.keybit.net/services.html
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