Re: Recently released QPL
Sorry for following up on my own message:
On Sat, Mar 13, 1999 at 02:58:22PM +0100, Marcus Brinkmann wrote:
> What about the other issue, that the original copyright holder (in case of
> Qt that's Troll Tech) can relicense the modifications (I hope I didn't mess
> this up, it's from memory). This clause was intended (if I have this right,
> excuse me if not) to make non-free license of Qt still possible.
What I meant is:
b. When modifications to the Software are released under this license,
a non-exclusive royalty-free right is granted to the initial developer
of the Software to distribute your modification in future versions of
the Software provided such versions remain available under these terms
in addition to any other license(s) of the initial developer.
Seems to be GPL compatible because of the "When mod. to the Software are
released under this license".
However, I am not completely sure about it's GPL compatibility as a whole,
because of certain specific points:
Clause 1 says: "Whole or partial distribution", but partial distribution is
not allowed by clause 2 anyway. This doesn't make sense. And the GPL does
allow that you only take a few files from the complete source, therefore I
think the GPL and QPL are slightly incompatible in thsi point (in the sense
that the QPL is more restrictive then the GPL).
Clause 2: "You may make modifications to the Software and distribute your
modifications, in a form that is separate from the Software, such as
patches." Mmmh. Is this GPL compatible? Again, this seems to be more
restrictiv than GPL, which only requires: " 2 a) You must cause the
modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the
files and the date of any change."
You don't need to carry the unharmed original source around with the GPL.
Similar 4b "the distributed Software, including all modifications," implies
you always need to provide original source.
Clause 5:
" 5. You may use the original or modified versions of the Software to compile, link and run
application programs legally developed by you or by others."
This is strange. It seems to say something similar then "use of this
Software isnot restricted". Which is fine. I wonder why this is in there
(the interesting stuff is clause 6, linking *with* Qt, which is also fine)
Okay, this was it. I am in doubt that this is GPL compatible, but if someone
thinks he sees why it is, I am happy to learn.
Thanks,
Marcus
--
`Rhubarb is no Egyptian god.' Debian http://www.debian.org finger brinkmd@
Marcus Brinkmann GNU http://www.gnu.org master.debian.org
Marcus.Brinkmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de for public PGP Key
http://homepage.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/Marcus.Brinkmann/ PGP Key ID 36E7CD09
Reply to: