kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Seth,

One of us missed something.  Here is my interpretation:

The opencascade website license states:

"Open CASCADE Technology version 6.7.0 and later are governed by GNU
Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1 with additional exception."

It makes no mention of later versions of the LGPL (including the
exception) so I am interpreting this as v2.1 only.  I do not have a copy
(and I'm not going to sign up to get a copy so please check the
copyright in the source to see if it matches the website) of the
opencascade source archive to see if the license in the source
specifically states "v2.1 or (at your option) any later version" which
is typically how the GPL and LGPL are used.  If it does, than I can
safely add this patch because I can make the claim that I am using
opencascade under at later version of the LGPL which is compatible with
the GPL 3 used by kicad.

According to the folks at the FSF:

"Please note that GPLv2 is, by itself, not compatible with GPLv3.
However, most software released under GPLv2 allows you to use the terms
of later versions of the GPL as well. When this is the case, you can use
the code under GPLv3 to make the desired combination. To learn more
about compatibility between GNU licenses, please see our FAQ."

I hope this clarifies why I am hesitant to merge this patch and what
needs to clarified.  Isn't licensing fun! ;)

Thanks,

Wayne

On 1/29/2018 2:47 PM, Seth Hillbrand wrote:
> Hi Wayne-
> 
> My reading of your links is different.  Here's the relevant quote:
> 
> "GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1 (#LGPLv2.1) This
> is the previous version of the LGPL: a free software license, but not a
> strong copyleft license, because it permits linking with nonfree
> modules. It is compatible with GPLv2 and GPLv3."
> 
> Did I miss something?
> 
> -Seth
> 
> 2018-01-29 11:18 GMT-08:00 Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>>:
> 
>     Seth,
> 
>     There maybe licensing issues involved with this.  OpenCascade is
>     licensed using LGPL v2.1 not v2.1[1] or later.  LGPL v2.1 is not
>     compatible with GPL 3[2].  If OpenCascade is willing to change their
>     license LPGL 2.1 or later or if this is just an oversight on their part,
>     than I can include this patch.  Please verify the OpenCascade license
>     with something that I can verify to ensure we are not violating and
>     licensing terms.
> 
>     Cheers,
> 
>     Wayne
> 
>     [1]: https://www.opencascade.com/content/licensing
>     <https://www.opencascade.com/content/licensing>
>     [2]:
>     https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.en.html#GPLCompatibleLicenses
>     <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.en.html#GPLCompatibleLicenses>
> 
>     On 1/29/2018 1:54 PM, Seth Hillbrand wrote:
>     > ​Hi All-
>     >
>     > Currently, the build requires the opencascade community edition.  For
>     > various reasons, I need to have the current non-community edition of
>     > OpenCASCADE installed on my work machine.
>     >
>     > The attached patch allows compiling KiCad with either the OpenCASCADE
>     > community edition or standard edition.  
>     >
>     > I've tested on a homebrew-based Mac install as well as Linux but
>     haven't
>     > verified MSW, if someone would be willing to test it there, that would
>     > be great!  The basic search routines are lightly modified from
>     FreeCAD's
>     > logic and keep their LGPL copyright on the CMake file.
>     >
>     > -Seth​
>     >
>     >
>     >
>     > _______________________________________________
>     > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers>
>     > Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>     > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers>
>     > More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>     <https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp>
>     >
> 
>     _______________________________________________
>     Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers>
>     Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>     Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers>
>     More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>     <https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>