Re: [myhdl-list] GPL License

[Jan D. <ja...@ja...>]

On 04/04/2011 05:36 AM, Christopher Lozinski wrote:
> So it turns out that this is the GNU lesser public license.   That is
> different from the GPL.
>
> I presume the intent is that the code that we create, and the part we
> design is not infected.

Yes, the intent is that changes to MyHDL itself are shared and
nothing else. The only difficulty to understand is that "Library"
refers to the myhdl package in a Python system, but I believe that
is a reasonable and can be clarified explicitly if necessary.

> But that is not at all clear to me.  If we generate the verilog code
> with this toolset, that may well be considered including the gnu code.

I wouldn't know why, not even under the GPL. The convertor
is a compiler. It's not because its output is readable that
it becomes "source code" that someone has written. Otherwise,
anybody using a gnu compiler would have to license their
compiled programs under the GPL.

The difficulty is with the MyHDL design code you write. With
the GPL, the myhdl package would probably infect that. With
the LGPL for the package, you can do with your code whatever
you want.

> Confusion is not good for customers.  I am confused.

I fear that licensing issues are always confusing. The starting
point is that I want changes/improvements to MyHDL itself to
be shared with me and anybody else for that matter, but
I also want to make sure that MyHDL imposes not a single
additional restriction. So I need a license that makes this
distiction with almost opposite requirements in a
clean way.

In short, I believe the LGPL is exactly what I need.

> A quick search of the email archives did not find anything addressing
> this issue.
>
> Regards
> Chris
>
> On 4/3/11 7:17 PM, Christopher Lozinski wrote:
>> I think I just read that MyHDL is under a GPL license.
>>
>> If I understand this correctly, that means if somone implements a design
>> in MyHDL it is "infected" by the GPL,
>> and they have to release that design to the public.
>>
>> I think that would be a problem for most potential users of this tool,
>> myself included.
>>
>> Can anything be done about this?
>>
>
>


-- 
Jan Decaluwe - Resources bvba - http://www.jandecaluwe.com
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