[SciPy-dev] scipy license compatibility

[Robert Kern]

Matt Knox wrote:
> Wondering if either of the following licenses are compatible with scipy:
>  
> Academic Free License ("AFL") v.
> 3.0: http://opensource.org/licenses/afl-3.0.php
> EGENIX public license:
> http://www.egenix.com/files/python/mxLicense.html#Public
>  
> I'm pretty sure the GNU GPL is not compatible, is that correct?
>  
> Might be a good idea to have a list of compatible and incompatible open
> source licences somewhere on the web-site (I can start that myself
> actually if nobody objects)

It depends on what you mean by "compatible". If you mean to ask whether or not
scipy's code can be combined with code with other licenses, then the answer is
almost always "yes". scipy's license is about as least-restrictive as you can get.

However, that means that our policy of only incorporating code with similar
licenses is fairly strict. That means that we cannot accept GPL and LGPL code
into scipy.

I would like to be able to incorporate AFL code. It is substantially a BSD-like
license, only it is clearer and on better legal ground. However, the FSF
believes it to be incompatible with the GPL, and I don't want that submarine
lying in wait for someone who wants to combine scipy with GPLed code.

The EGENIX public license looks fine to me.

-- 
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