Re: [boost] Re: Re: Boost Mathematicians

From: Stefan Seefeld (seefeld_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-06-02 23:11:56

Walter Landry wrote:

> Since the Boost license is compatible with the GPL, it would be legal
> to write, compile, and distribute a C++ interface.  But it wouldn't
> gain you anything license-wise, since the C++ interface plus GSL would
> still be effectively licensed under the GPL.  The GSL authors did this
> on purpose.  They don't want to allow proprietary software to use GSL.

<nitpicking>

They certainly allow proprietary software to use GSL. What they don't
want is people extending their work (and that's how they would look at
a boost wrapper) be able to distribute that work under less free terms
than what GPL provides (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html).

Note that the operative term here is 'distribute', not 'use'.
If you don't distribute you don't need to look into license issues.

</nitpicking>

Regards,
                Stefan