[SciPy-Dev] cubature license

[Warren Weckesser]

On 8/24/13, Warren Weckesser <warren.weckesser at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 8/24/13, Robert Kern <robert.kern at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Sat, Aug 24, 2013 at 4:47 PM, Warren Weckesser <
>> warren.weckesser at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> On 8/24/13, Saullo Castro <saullogiovani at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > @Alex,
>>> >
>>> > you are right, "it uses some GPL code from other projects (Hintlib and
>>> > GSL).
>>> > "
>>> >
>>> > But is it really impossible to include it in SciPy because of that?
>>>
>>> Yes.  We do not include GPL-licensed code in SciPy.  I haven't looked
>>> at the Cubature code, so I don't know the extent to which it uses
>>> HIntLib and GSL, but based on the comment on the web page, it is
>>> unlikely that Steven Johnson can re-license his code with a license
>>> that is compatible with SciPy.  The GPL is viral that way (insert the
>>> usual "I am not a lawyer" disclaimer here).
>>
>> It's not quite as viral as that. He can license the code that he himself
>> wrote under whatever license he likes as long as it is compatible with
>> the
>> GPL license of the other libraries that he is combining his code with. If
>> the code that he wrote is separable from HIntLib and GSL by rewriting
>> that
>> functionality, he can distribute his code under the BSD license for
>> inclusion in SciPy.
>
>
> Yes--thanks for the clarification.
>
> Warren
>


P.S.:  Saullo, here are a couple links to more information about
compatible licenses:
http://wiki.scipy.org/License_Compatibility
http://matplotlib.org/devel/license.html#license-discussion (the
discussion of the matplotlib license is applicable to scipy)

Warren

>
>>
>> --
>> Robert Kern
>>
>