[OT} How to un-GPL parts of a GPL'd module.

[Anton Vredegoor]

On Tue, 08 Oct 2002 14:40:55 -0700, Erik Max Francis <max at alcyone.com>
wrote:

>Anton Vredegoor wrote:
>
>> how can I use a class or a function from a GLP'd module (cut-and-paste
>> style) in a module with BSD or public domain style release?
>> 
>> I guess I could e-mail the author for permission but if I would have
>> to wait for them to answer, it would slow my coding process down to a
>> snail's pace, and there's always the possibility of the author being
>> unwilling.
>> 
>> So that's not an option for me. I would rather rethink the problem and
>> start writing a new script.
>
>You really have only three options:
>
>1. Don't use the snippet and be safe.
>2. Use the snippet and be bound to GPL your code.
>3. Contact the author and ask him to make a private release of the
>material for you with an altered license.

This is a strange coincidence. The reason why I started this thread
was that your lindenmeyer system simulator works very well with the
sequencer class I use in my screensaver. I would not use it the way
one might think at first, but it is clear from only a superficial look
at the sourcecode that a sequence produced by the lindenmeyer system
simulator can be uniquely indexed by my sequencer class. So I wrote a
test script implementing a two way conversion using the lindenmeyer
system to filter out unwanted tuples and then converted back to
sequencer tuples. This produced "softer" output and I have been
watching my screensaver for a good part of the night using different
calibrations :-)

In the end I decided not to use the lindenmeyer system simulator
because I can just as soon write a tuple conversion script as wait for
you to answer my email. I do not want to imply that you are not
answering e-mail, just that the time it would take would be longer
than just writing a convertor myself. That's what I thought *then*.

By the way the lindenmeyer system algorithms themselves *are* in the
public domain, I think?

However, just because the two systems would work so well together for
other implementations I got a bit frustrated about the license
imcompatibilities and started this thread in order to adress the issue
in a more general way. Now it seems not so hard at all to get in
contact with the author: The author contacts me voluntarily!

Since my program is public domain I have no problem with someone
relicensing (parts of) it as GPL, but then the problem for me would be
that I could not use the GPL'd derivates myself, because I want my
code in the public domain. I could get into a lenghty explanation
about this but lets just say I am a postmodernist and I want my code
snippets to survive seperately if my complete script would not be
used.

Maybe we can work something out? Thanks for writing free sourcecode,

regards,

		Anton.