[Rcpp-devel] Package code industry request

Sean O'Riordain seoriord at tcd.ie
Thu Apr 30 12:09:25 CEST 2015


I am curious about the phrase "distribute internally" - surely under GPL,
that is still distribution and all modifications should thus be made
public?  The GPL does not distinguish between "internal" distribution and
any other kind.

Soren, another possibility (and IANAL!) is to dual license your package
like say Rstudio which has an open source and commercial versions each with
different licences (doesn't it?).  This of course depends on your code
dependencies - i.e. afaik it can't link tightly to GPL code to do this -
but it can loosely.

Sean


On 29 April 2015 at 23:25, Gábor Csárdi <csardi.gabor at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Apr 29, 2015 at 5:47 PM, Latchezar (Lucho) Dimitrov <
> ldimitro at wakehealth.edu> wrote:
>
>>  Well, this is half of the truth. The other part is they can make
>> modifications but AFAIK and IANAL all derivative work must be GPL-2 as
>> well.
>>
>
> This only applies is they distribute the package. If they use it for their
> own stuff internally, they can do whatever they want to it, they don't even
> have to tell you.
>
>
>> The best thing to do is to refer them to GPL-2 and ask them if they
>> accept it or not. Another best thing is to consult with FSF.
>>
>
> Personally, I think the best thing is to refer them to the code (if it is
> indeed public and GPL-2), and tell them that you can help them if they run
> into problems.
>
> Gabor
>
>
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Latchezar
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* rcpp-devel-bounces at lists.r-forge.r-project.org [mailto:
>> rcpp-devel-bounces at lists.r-forge.r-project.org] *On Behalf Of *Tobias
>> Verbeke
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 29, 2015 5:38 PM
>> *To:* Sören Vogel
>> *Cc:* Carlo Albert; Roman Ashauer; rcpp-devel at lists.r-forge.r-project.org
>> *Subject:* Re: [Rcpp-devel] Package code industry request
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi Soeren,
>>
>> If you distribute the package under GPL-2, it gives the company as many
>> freedoms as any other user of the package (freedom to study the code, to
>> modify the code etc.) and I think that is a good thing (it is part of the
>> definition of free [as in free speech] software).
>>
>>
>>
>> I have obviously no clue on this specific case or on the intentions of
>> the company, but the fact that a company is interested to use your package
>> seems good news a priori and I have seen numerous occasions where users
>> inside companies were able to identify bugs, suggest improvements, sponsor
>> further development etc.
>>
>>
>>
>> HTH,
>>
>> Tobias
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 29, 2015 at 10:30 PM, Sören Vogel <soeren.vogel at posteo.ch>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hello
>>
>> Please apologise if this is off-list.
>>
>> Today, a commercial company asked about numerical code and recent
>> numerical code changes that routines of my R-package are based upon.  The
>> code is self-developed (by Carlo Albert) and based upon an algorithm to be
>> published in a scientific article within the next 4 weeks.  I wonder (or
>> doubt?) if the license (GPL-2) and the open source spirit would be fully
>> regarded by the company.  What is your recommendation to react on such a
>> request?  Is there sort of a standard text to send?
>>
>> Thanks for your help
>> Sören
>>
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>
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-- 
Kind regards,

Sean O'Riordain
seoriord at tcd.ie
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