Calling GPL code from a Python application

[Heiko Wundram]

Ernst Noch wrote:
> Heiko Wundram wrote:
>> Terry Hancock wrote:
>>>Given that Google has been using this fact extensively, and
>>>they have not been sued over it, I think it's a fairly
>>>clearly established interpretation, whether it is popular or
>>>not (but of course it's not a legal precedent until somebody
>>>does sue and loses).
>> 
>> This is not what the general interpretation of the GPL seems to be with
>> TrollTech and several other companies. They specifically state that even
>> when you develop inhouse software with GPL-libraries (Qt in the former
>> case), you are required to release the code of the application under the
>> GPL.
>
> This is not true, and a often misunderstood issue w.r.t. to Trolltech/QT.
> 
>  From the FAQ:
> 
> <snip>

I can't see how that FAQ entry is relevant to the discussion here, actually. 

I've asked TrollTech more than once for their stance on this, and each time
they have told me that it's illegal for me to develop an inhouse
application (such as a frontend to some webapp I've written that's only
used by us and will never ever be given away commercially) using the Open
Source edition of Qt (which I have not commercially licensed, of course,
which is way to expensive for me and Uni won't pay), unless I convince the
people at my univ to _release_ the code I've written under a GPL-compatible
open source license itself.

>From what Phil Thompson has written (basically go ask TrollTech), I can't
see that this licensing restriction has become milder in any way. And QT is
licensed under a vanilla GPL (amongst the TrollTech public license), which
I guess makes my point in saying that this is a general property of the
GPL. From what I've read by Mr. Moglen, he's just taking the same stance.

--- Heiko.