On Fri, Mar 05, 2010 at 12:29:15PM +0000, Malcolm Wallace wrote:
Background: X is a library distributed under the terms of the GPL. Y is another library which calls external functions in the API of X, and requires X to compile. X and Y have different authors.
1) Can the author of Y legally distribute the *source* of Y under a non-GPL license, such as the 3-clause BSD license or the MIT license?
I believe the answer you got from SFLC ("no") contradicts what the authors of the GPL say about this case. viz:
Yes, to my knowledge what the SFLC said is also incorrect. Perhaps they just erred on the side of 'just GPL it'. In any case, I wouldn't want cabal/hackage to worry about such things for random uploaded packages, it can't know if the GPL licenses have special exceptions or whatnot. Unless of course someone where to write a formal combinator language for expressing legal contracts.. :). John -- John Meacham - ⑆repetae.net⑆john⑈ - http://notanumber.net/