Re: [ng-spice] Readline Response
Manu Rouat wrote:
>
> Kev wrote:
>
> > BTW, on the 'readline' subject,...
> So if
> > you want to use 'readline' etc. it should be OK to supply a build that
>uses
> > those libraries if they are installed - what you can't do is cut & paste
> > the code or statically link it and deliver the resulting executable.
>
> Wrong - you cannot even link dynamically to it. In the LGPL it is stated
>that:
>
>
> "The reason we have a separate public license for some libraries is that
> they blur the distinction we usually make between modifying or adding to a
> program and simply using it. Linking a program with a library, without
> changing the library, is in some sense simply using the library, and is
> analogous to running a utility program or application program. However, in
> a textual and legal sense, the linked executable is a combined work, a
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> derivative of the original library, and the ordinary General Public License
> treats it as such."
I don't disagree with that, however I think we are still in a grey area. If I
deliver a working standalone program that is capable of dynamically loading
extra funcionality at the customer/user site but does not depend on doing so
(and I don't deliver the extras either), am I breaking any license agreement?
Perl would seem to fall into this category, i.e. you can quite easily plug-in
extra bits of your own, but perl itself runs without them.
> This means that we would need the readline library to be LGPL'd rather than
>GPL'd
> to link ngspice against it (or ngspice to be GPL'd)
Has anyone asked Berkley about releasing a GPL'd version of Spice 3? (They
may do this for a small financial consideration, commercial release is ~$250
I think).
Also, if the ng-spice project was split into a GPL'd user-interface and
generic
simulation interface, with the BSD Spice 3 as one of a number of possible
(dynamically loadable) simulation engines, does that break any license
agreement?
Regards,
Kev.
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