[SciPy-dev] PRIMME: PReconditioned Iterative MultiMethod Eigensolver

[Robert Kern]

Matthew Brett wrote:
> Hi,
> 
>> The issue is not one of convenience. The issue is that the GPL and LGPL
>> are legally and practically incompatible with the scipy/MIT licence and
>> would require a change of the scipy licence is any of their code were to
>> be included with the existing package.
> 
> I am sorry to persist, but as far as I can see, including an LGPL
> (rather than GPL) package, with wrappers, is not incompatible with the
> scipy license.  I may have misunderstood the license, but if I
> haven't, then a policy of not including LGPL code will put an
> unnecessary hurdle in the way of scipy users.  I can imagine there is
> a reason to prefer that option, but I wasn't sure what it was - hence
> my earlier question...

I've tried to explain in my latest response to Gary Ruben. To the contrary, I 
see *including* an LGPLed component in scipy as putting an unnecessary hurdle in 
the way of scipy users. While the LGPL is lighter in its requirements than the 
GPL, it's certainly not trivial to comply with as scipy's license currently is. 
It is an unnecessary hurdle because there are really not many reasons why a new 
package *must* be in scipy. Small, well-separated packages are, in fact, 
preferred for technical reasons above and beyond the legal ones.

A scikits (scitools, sciwhatever) project will provide the benefits of the scipy 
community for the smaller, individual projects.

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
  that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
  an underlying truth."
   -- Umberto Eco