[GRASS-dev] OpenMotif

[Glynn Clements]

Brad Douglas wrote:

> It has come to my attention that openmotif is not compatible with the
> GRASS license.

That's debatable.

Ironically, commercially-licenced versions of Motif are potentially
less of a problem, as the GPL provides an exception for "major
components ... of the operating system". On commercial Unices, Motif
is frequently part of the OS.

So, the issue primarily relates to OpenMotif (which is just a copy of
Motif distributed under the Open Group Public Licence; at a technical
level, OpenMotif is the same product as a commercial version of
Motif).

Even there, it's only an issue insofar as Motif isn't considered
"standard" on platforms for which the OpenMotif licence applies.

> > > Should we move GRASS to lesstif?  All that really needs to be done is
> > > simply replace text that says openmotif/motif with lesstif (ie.
> > > cosmetics).
> > 
> > What text do you mean?  REQUIREMENTS.html lists lesstif as the  
> > suggested dependency, and a google search for Motif and GRASS only  
> > finds mailing list discussions and pointers to packages... ah-ha,  
> > that's one place I guess, the rpm spec files... Debian is already  
> > using lesstif.  Anything else that I'm missing?
> 
> I'm talking about things like the 'configure' script.  Change
> '--with-motif' to '--with-lesstif'.  That kind of stuff.  '--with-motif'
> implies openmotif, not lesstif.

No, it implies something compatible with IEEE 1295, i.e. Motif
(whether OpenMotif or a commercial version), or a clone thereof.

BTW, a version linked against OpenMotif (or even a commercial version)
should work with LessTif and vice-versa, although you might need to
add a symlink to cater for different major version numbers.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>