[Python-Dev] Building on OS X 10.4 fails (original) (raw)

Stephen J. Turnbull stephen at xemacs.org
Wed Jan 18 14:24:52 CET 2006

"Anthony" == Anthony Baxter <anthony at interlink.com.au> writes:

Anthony> Python's license is GPL-compatible, so this isn't an
Anthony> issue.

I'm sorry, but you seem to misunderstand what "GPL compatibility" means. It is a one-way street. A license is GPL-compatible if its terms permit the code it covers to be redistributed under GPL. The GPL, however, is "compatible" in this sense only with itself: the whole of any work derived from a GPL work must be licensed under the GPL. Not under a GPL-compatible license, under the GPL.

The import of the Ghostscript case is that the FSF considers a Makefile stanza clearly intended to cause linkage to a GPL library, even if optional and supplied by the user, to create a work derived from that library. A "GNU readline"-enabled Python is derived from GNU readline, and must be distributed under the GPL or not distributed at all. I assume that the former is not acceptable to Python, and the latter is clearly undesirable.

I assure you, Peter Deutsch was just as unbelieving as you are, but facing a potentially expensive lawsuit, he caved in. I can think of many reasons why the FSF might not come after Python, but the risk is real. Please ask a lawyer.

-- School of Systems and Information Engineering http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp University of Tsukuba Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN Ask not how you can "do" free software business; ask what your business can "do for" free software.

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