[Haskell-cafe] containers license issue

[Clark Gaebel]

I think this is a potential problem, but, obviously, IANAL. [1]

According to the GPL:

To “propagate” a work means to do anything with it that, without
permission, would make you directly or secondarily liable for infringement
under applicable copyright law, except executing it on a computer or
modifying a private copy. Propagation includes copying, distribution (with
or without modification), making available to the public, and in some
countries other activities as well.

and

You may make, run and propagate covered works that you do not convey,
without conditions so long as your license otherwise remains in force.

and of course

You may not propagate or modify a covered work except as expressly provided
under this License. Any attempt otherwise to propagate or modify it is
void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License
(including any patent licenses granted under the third paragraph of section
11).


I believe that this counts as "propagation" of the original work, since it
would be considered "infringement under applicable copyright law". Now, the
wording in the GPL is a bit confusing on this point. I'm not sure if
propagation requires that the BSD3 that containers is licensed under must
remain in force, or the GPL on which the which is derived must remain in
force. Does anyone else have better luck interpreting this?

  - Clark

[1] Aside: Can we stop saying IANAL? Let's just all assume that, until
proven otherwise, no one here is a lawyer.
[2] Required Reading: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html


On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 11:00 AM, David Thomas <davidleothomas at gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> Right. If either of the following hold, you should be able to carry on as
you were (but double check with your lawyer):
>
> 1) The algorithm is borrowed but the code was not copied.  In this case,
copyright doesn't cover it, and the GPL is inapplicable.  (Patents could
conceivably be an issue, but no more so than if it was BSD code).
>
> 2) If you are not going to be distributing the code - either it is used
for internal tools or in the backend of a networked service (which the GPL
does not treat as distribution, as distinct from the AGPL).
>
> If a sizable chunk of actual code was copied, then the containers package
would have to be GPL, and if you are using the library and distribute
programs built with it then those programs must be GPL as well.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 7:47 AM, Vo Minh Thu <noteed at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> 2012/12/12 Dmitry Kulagin <dmitry.kulagin at gmail.com>:
>> > Hi Cafe,
>> >
>> > I am faced with unpleasant problem. The lawyer of my company checked
sources
>> > of containers package and found out that it refers to some GPL-library.
>> >
>> > Here is quote:
>> > "The algorithm is derived from Jorg Arndt's FXT library"
>> > in file Data/IntMap/Base.hs
>> >
>> > The problem is that FXT library is GPL and thus containers package can
not
>> > be considered as BSD3. And it means that it can not be used in my case
>> > (closed source software).
>> >
>> > Is this logic actually correct and containers should be considered as
GPL?
>> >
>> > The package is widely used by other packages and the only way I see
right
>> > now is to fix sources to reimplement this functionality, which is not
good
>> > option.
>>
>> GPL covers code, not algorithms.
>>
>> Beside, you can use GPL in closed-source code. GPL forces you to make
>> the source available when you distribute the software, but if you
>> don't distribute the software, there is nothing wrong to use GPL and
>> not make your code available.
>>
>> HTH, IANAL,
>> Thu
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Haskell-Cafe mailing list
>> Haskell-Cafe at haskell.org
>> http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell-cafe
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Haskell-Cafe mailing list
> Haskell-Cafe at haskell.org
> http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell-cafe
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/haskell-cafe/attachments/20121212/8112a511/attachment.htm>