Re: [Hebmorph-thinktank] HebMorph patch

[kirillkh <kir...@gm...>]

Hi Efraim,



2011/6/10 Efraim Feinstein <efr...@gm...>

> I would like to clarify something about your (possibly unconventional?)
> interpretation of the GPL. The GPL itself doesn't limit the private use
> of GPL'd software. It does limit distribution of binaries that are
> compiled from GPL sources. So, I think you're right about the particular
> case you were asked about: you can't legally distribute binaries
> compiled from GPL source code without distributing the source code (or
> buying an exception to the GPL).

This is not what I was asking about at all. Rather, my question was: can I
distribute closed-source software that requires HebMorph for its functions
(provided that I disclose HebMorph's license and distribute its source
code)? You seem to imply that the answer to that question is a simple 'yes'.
But that is not the case. The issue here is that GPL not only requires
distributing the source code of the software together with the binaries, but
it also requires distributing the source code of any "derivative work" of
the software, where "derivative work" is defined as anything linking to the
software. Simply put, if your program uses HebMorph as a library, your
program must be GPL too. On the other hand, if your program just works with
Solr, then you are *not* linking to it directly and, as a result, are not
required to GPL your own program.

Still, some questions remain:
1. Are you even allowed to distribute Lucene+HebMorph+(your open-source
software), considering Lucene is not GPL?
2. A normal program based on Lucene+HebMorph will use the Lucene API, not
the HebMorph API (I don't know Lucene's API, but I suspect there's a way to
configure its analyzers through the configuration files; otherwise it's easy
to program a Lucene extension that would do just this). So one can say that
the program does not link to HebMorph directly - rather, it links to Lucene;
furthermore, even Lucene doesn't link to HebMorph directly: rather, it links
to a generic "Analyzer" API, which it provides itself. Does this mean that a
closed-source program is allowed use Lucene+HebMorph?

These are really the questions I was asking, not whether I may or may not
distribute HebMorph without its sources (which is obviously prohibited by
the GPL).

-Kirill