Re: [ng-spice] Readline Response


To ng-spice@ieee.ing.uniroma1.it
From Kev <kev@v-ms.com>
Date Fri, 27 Aug 1999 13:02:24 +0100
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References <199908251444.QAA17506@bsing.ing.unibs.it > <37C41FF2.BA7EE9AF@wanadoo.fr > <37C5872A.14FAED4D@v-ms.com > <37C5A9E8.61172643@wanadoo.fr >
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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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