fenics team mailing list archive

[Anders Logg <logg@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 03:18:17PM +0100, Harish Narayanan wrote:
> On 1/28/11 3:10 PM, Garth N. Wells wrote:
> >
> >
> > On 28/01/11 14:06, Harish Narayanan wrote:
> >> On 1/28/11 2:47 PM, Harish Narayanan wrote:
> >>> On 1/28/11 1:37 PM, Anders Logg wrote:
> >>>> On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 10:03:15PM +0100, Anders Logg wrote:
> >>>>> I've prepared drafts of the copyright consent forms:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> http://www.fenicsproject.org/pub/copyright/forms/
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Take a look and let the list know if you have any comments.
> >>>>> If we find that the documents look ok, we can start sending out
> >>>>> requests for signed consent forms.
> >>>>
> >>>> I haven't heard any objections to the design of the consent forms so I
> >>>> assume everyone's onboard. I will start sending out requests for forms
> >>>> shortly.
> >>>
> >>> The documents seem reasonable, except that I have one concern over the
> >>> (broad) scope. What if a contributor is OK with LGPL for some FEniCS
> >>> components, but doesn't see the purpose (or is not happy with, for
> >>> whatever reason) for other components.
> >>>
> >>> I understand the rationale behind LGPL for core components (DOFIN, FFC
> >>> etc.) but not, for e.g., FEniCS Apps.
> >>
> >> I am going to further my query. Probably convoluted, but here it goes:
> >>
> >> What constitutes a FEniCS app? Is it any application written based on
> >> components of the FEniCS project? Is it an application that gets listed
> >> on the FEniCS web site? And if one is going to force the license of the
> >> app, does that not defeat the purpose of LGPL'ing core FEniCS components[1]?
> >>
> >
> > My take is that an App gets to hang itself under the 'FEniCS App'
> > banner, and a qualifying requirement for that is a GPL/LGPL license. If
> > it's proprietary, it can't be a FEniCS App.

Exactly. (But it has to be LGPL, not GPL.)

Everyone is free to make proprietary solvers on top of the
LGPL-licensed software, but not as FEniCS Apps.

--
Anders