[GRASS-ABM] Linking to GRASS

[Markus Neteler]

[Posted here for the list archive]

Linking to GRASS
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Solving the GPL issues - incomplete list of links

Hypothesis: a way may be
   application <--> java <--> swig <--> GRASS-SWIG <--> GRASS
   application <--> perl <--> swig <--> GRASS-SWIG <--> GRASS

Or, introducing sockets/network:
   application <--> java <--> socket <--> swig <--> GRASS-SWIG <--> GRASS

Or, use system calls:
   application <--> java <--> system() <--> GRASS


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Related GNU pages

 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#MereAggregation
 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WindowsRuntimeAndGPL
 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#FSWithNFLibs
 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLPluginsInNF
 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#NFUseGPLPlugins

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Wikipedia

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License#GPL-related_disputes
 GPL-related disputes
 "A key dispute related to the GPL is whether or not non-GPL software
 can dynamically link to GPL libraries. The GPL is clear in requiring
 that all derivative works of GPL'ed code must themselves be
 GPL'ed. However, it is not clear whether an executable that
 dynamically links to a GPL library should be considered a derivative
 work. The free/open-source software community is split on this issue,
 with the FSF asserting that such an executable is indeed a derivative
 work, and other experts disagreeing. This is ultimately a question
 not of the GPL per se, but of how copyright law defines derivative
 works. In Galoob v. Nintendo the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
 defined a derivative work as having "'form' or permanence" and noted
 that "the infringing work must incorporate a portion of the
 copyrighted work in some form," but there have been no clear court
 decisions to resolve this particular conflict.
 ...  "

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JAVAGRASS uses JNI - how does it work for the license?

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Linking GRASS to proprietary OpenDWG library:

 http://grass.itc.it/pipermail/grass5/2003-May/thread.html#7854
 [GRASS5] v.in.dwg license problem

 -> v.in.dwg was published with GPL-exeption

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-- 
Markus Neteler     <neteler itc it>       http://mpa.itc.it
ITC-irst -  Centro per la Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica
MPBA - Predictive Models for Biol. & Environ. Data Analysis
Via Sommarive, 18        -       38050 Povo (Trento), Italy