Re: [Caml-list] License Conditions for OCaml

[David Brown <caml-list@davidb.org>]

On Fri, Nov 09, 2001 at 09:45:45AM +0100, Xavier Leroy wrote:
> > Yeah, this is a slightly misleading statement, unless the OCaml
> > development team has made a modification to the LGPL similar to what was
> > done for the Guile license, which is LGPL with one additional clause:
> > blanket linking is allowed for Guile. (OCaml dev team, is this also the
> > license under which the runtime exists?)
> 
> We haven't yet modified the LGPL to remove these silly restrictions on
> linking with LGPL code, but plan to do so in the near future.  
> 
> We'd be interested in examples of other software projects that did this.
> You mention Guile, however it seems to be under the (standard) GPL
> (not even LGPL).

This is the license from the runtime of the GNU Ada Compiler.  Note the
special exception.  Also this is GPL, with the exception:

--           Copyright (C) 1995-1998 Ada Core Technologies, Inc.            --
--                                                                          --
-- GNAT is free software;  you can  redistribute it  and/or modify it under --
-- terms of the  GNU General Public License as published  by the Free Soft- --
-- ware  Foundation;  either version 2,  or (at your option) any later ver- --
-- sion.  GNAT is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITH- --
-- OUT ANY WARRANTY;  without even the  implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY --
-- or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License --
-- for  more details.  You should have  received  a copy of the GNU General --
-- Public License  distributed with GNAT;  see file COPYING.  If not, write --
-- to  the Free Software Foundation,  59 Temple Place - Suite 330,  Boston, --
-- MA 02111-1307, USA.                                                      --
--                                                                          --
-- As a special exception,  if other files  instantiate  generics from this --
-- unit, or you link  this unit with other files  to produce an executable, --
-- this  unit  does not  by itself cause  the resulting  executable  to  be --
-- covered  by the  GNU  General  Public  License.  This exception does not --
-- however invalidate  any other reasons why  the executable file  might be --
-- covered by the  GNU Public License.                                      --

This seems to be working well.  It allows this library to be linked with
programs.  If someone wishes to incorporate the code, however, it
requires the GPL to be followed.

The wording would have to be changed from instantiating generics,
though.

This does also allow modifications.  If the person doing the
modifications also agrees to the exception.

I also believe this exception has been agreed upon by the FSF.

David Brown
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