Re: [boost] Can a Boost library use a component like GMP and mfpr that have a LGPL license ?

Subject: Re: [boost] Can a Boost library use a component like GMP and mfpr that have a LGPL license ?
From: Eric Niebler (eric_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-03-20 18:17:06

Stefan Seefeld wrote:
> Paul A. Bristow wrote:
>> Might we enter into discussion with GMP and mfpr developers to get 
>> explicit
>> permission to package their library within Boost?
>>   
> 
> Is there any reason to require boost to be self-contained ? Why can't it 
> depend on external libraries for some cases, especially if those 
> libraries are already freely available and hugely popular, thus the 
> chances that they are already present are high.
> I agree that it would be good not to expose this dependency through the 
> API, though, so if it got replaced, API compatibility would be 
> maintainable.

You mean, the way Boost.Regex can be configured to use IBM's ICU library 
for handling Unicode? And Boost.Python requires Python?

-- 
Eric Niebler
BoostPro Computing
http://www.boostpro.com