kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Dick Hollenbeck <dick@...>]

> Jonas Diemer a écrit :
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > find attached my correspondance with Toby Howard, licensing manager of 
> > the GPC
> > library.
> >
> > Executive Summary:
> >
> > - GPC will not be released under a GPL or compatible license.
> >
> > - If we keep GPC in KiCad, we have to note in the software (not just 
> > in the
> > source code) that a separate license applies for part of KiCad.
> >
> > - KiCad users must obtain a commercial license of GPC if they choose 
> > to use
> > KiCad with included GPC for commercial purposes, e.g. create a commercial
> > PCB.
> >
> > Hence, keeping GPC would imply _serious_ licensing problems, far 
> > beyond just
> > being marked as "non-free".
> >
> > I say we drop GPC as soon as possible or create a free and a non-free 
> > branch
> > of KiCad.

Jonas, thank you for getting clarification on this. 


> GPC license is not acceptable for kicad.
> I start searching to replace the GPC library, before releasing a new 
> pcbnew version.
> (perhaps polygon1.c (gpl) used in gpcb)


geda pcb has some features we need:

1) zones in the ratsnest
2) detection of when a track cuts through a zone and orphans a piece of 
it without zone continuity.

This latter item may be more dependent on the implementation library. 
So with the anticipation that we might eventually copy some GPL 
copyrighted code from PCB in order to implement 1), 2), or both, this 
library is worth looking at most seriously.


(I think this whole episode can be a lesson in the danger of not 
recognizing who copyright holders are, and what their wishes as owners are.)


Dick