kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Seth Hillbrand <seth.hillbrand@xxxxxxxxx>]

Maybe the confusion is between LGPL v2.1, which is compatible with GPL3 and
GPL2, which is not.  There are two aspects here:

- Clause 3 states that we can substitute GPL v2 or any newer version
instead of LGPL v2.1.  That would apply if we decided to use a copy of the
library (e.g. static linking)

- But there is also Clause 6 that covers us: "As an exception to the
Sections above, you may also combine or link a "work that uses the Library"
with the Library to produce a work containing portions of the Library, and
distribute that work under terms of your choice, provided that the terms
permit modification of the work for the customer's own use and reverse
engineering for debugging such modifications."

-S

2018-01-29 12:04 GMT-08:00 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​
> >     >
> >     >
> >     >
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