Re: Thoughts about gnuplot license and copyrights

[Robert H. <en...@no...>]

> IMHO the gnuplot license is very close to the standard BSD license,
which
> imposes fewer restrictions than the GPL.

The purpose of the GPL, is not (just) to allow forks, or other independent
developments and patches, but also to allow code to be reused in entirely
separate projects. AFAICT, there is nothing in the gnuplot license that
would let me (say) use the gnuplot terminal drivers as the start point for
some other graphical program. 

Additionally, I think there is a lot to be said for going with one of the
more standard licenses. If it actually is BSD, or GPL or LGPL, or MPL,
then people know what that means. Whereas the gnuplot license seems to
cause no end of confusion (partly due to the unfortunate coincidence in
the use of "GNU" as part of the name), and I know people like myself,
whilst happy to use gnuplot, are reluctant to get too involved in
developing it because of that.

Rob



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