Re: [OctDev] GPL violations

[Jaroslav H. <hi...@gm...>]

On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 3:44 PM, Judd Storrs <js...@gm...> wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 1:56 AM, David Bateman <dba...@db...>
> wrote:
>>
>> To me it makes sense to have to option of writing non GPLed code for
>> Octave for those that have restrictions from their employers that constrain
>> them from from releasing certain code to the general public and then allows
>> these same employees to work with Octave and contribute back to it with
>> other code that the boss doesn't consider in this same light. So Octave can
>> win from this situation, but yes I agree that its shame that Mathworks also
>> profits from this.
>
> There are often misconceptions about what the GPL requires. The GPL does not
> require that you distribute modifications or that you are even able to
> distribute modifications. But, if you *do* distribute modified versions the
> modifications must follow the distribution terms of the GPL.
> Use *within* a company is not distribution. Even oct-interfaces can be
> written for use within a company, but the cannot be distributed to
> non-employees. Someone working at a company can develop code that integrates
> with anything (assuming the license of the other code allows it), but they
> can only distribute code to non-employees/non-contractors under terms of the
> GPL. This may imply that the code cannot be distributed. Modifications (bug
> fixes etc) that do not require GPL-incompatible software can be contributed
> back to octave.
> I think it is incorrect to say that use of MEX allows *anything* to be used
> with Octave. The purpose of the MEX interface is interoperability with
> Matlab. It seems requisite that any distributed MEX software must work in
> Matlab and you must have access to a Matlab license to guarantee that. It
> is not clear to me that Octave's MEX interface can be used to *develop*
> extensions with the intention of using them in octave.
>>
>> Please be aware in the change in the ToS of mathcentral a while back,
>> matlab attempts to make the following changes
>>
>> 1) Forces a BSD license on the code there, and
>
> Well, the GPL can't exactly apply in the case of GPC, can it? In any case,
> the 3-clause BSD license used on MatlabCentral is GPL compatible, and the
> GPL license cannot apply to code based on GPC.
>>
>> where it is stated that we have no idea if there is a legal basis for such
>> a change, but that we shouldn't assume that it does. If you want to use this
>> code the contact the author directly rather than downloading it from
>> mathcentral.
>
> Contacting the author was offered as a courtesy (with the purpose of raising
> awareness of octave), but is not required by the BSD.
>
>>
>> 2) Makes it impossible to use code downloaded from there with products
>> other than matlab.
>
> That is not true.

Perhaps not, but it is what they say - see Terms of Use of Matlab
Central. I think the risk is too great for a typical hacker/user to
ignore, in spite of yours or anyone else's legal opinion about this.
I'd say that software from Matlab File Exchange is at best unadvisable
to use with Octave.

best regards

-- 
RNDr. Jaroslav Hajek, PhD
computing expert & GNU Octave developer
Aeronautical Research and Test Institute (VZLU)
Prague, Czech Republic
url: www.highegg.matfyz.cz