[Insight-developers] Linear algebra licensing and ITK 3.18 Release

Tue Mar 23 11:00:04 EDT 2010

Hi Alex,

We could (in principle) carry a LGPL library in Utilities,
and use CMake in order to ensure that when ITK is
build, then that library is build as a shared library and
therefore used through dynamic linking.

However, we will then have to enforce that build process,
and provide enough information and warning to users
who may want to deviate from that build process.

If we follow that path we will be less in the business
of providing libraries for medical image analysis and
more in the business of controlling who users build
their software.

It has become a common practice for many organizations
to go into the business of micromanaging what users do
with their software, and to play the role of "minders".
If we go that way, soon we will telling them what number
of cores to use, what days of the week they should work
and what books they are allowed to read...

     Luis

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On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 5:20 AM, Alexandre GOUAILLARD
<agouaillard at gmail.com> wrote:
> luis , I don't think I would write it better than you, but I thought
> you could link against LGPL code and still be "safe".
> One exemple I would take is Qt.
>
> Then, would it be "safe" to distribute a library in itk/utilities,
> that would be under lpgl, making sure that the code is always only
> compiled as a library and linked against?
> (side question, is it actually ok to statistically link then, or would
> it restrict the compilation to a shared library mode in order to keep
> ITK main code under BSD ?)
>
> what do you think?
>
> alex.
> PS: abstinence-only sex-ed is like GPL? or one lead to the other? but
> then, which one to which one! oh well, kent, you got me confused there
> :-)
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 2:12 AM, kent williams
> <norman-k-williams at uiowa.edu> wrote:
>> Not to belabor the point but you say 'your summary is correct' and yet you
>> state LGPL should can't be included, where as I said I thought that it could
>> be OK.  I don't care one way or another. I don't know of any LGPL code that
>> ITK needs or wants.
>>
>> But I am interested in which LGPL restrictions are incompatible with the ITK
>> license.
>>
>> It's really a global problem. Some people apply licenses to their code
>> without really understanding what they've done, or they fail to include any
>> license at all, which is just as dangerous.
>>
>> Due to DMCA Copyright rules, EVERYTHING anyone creates is implicitly
>> copyrighted, so if someone wants to share code, they need to explicitly
>> state what rights they're willing to grant those who wish to use their code.
>>
>> As for GPL, it reflects the absolutist political stance of Richard Stallman,
>> and like all absolutist opinions, it is by definition unreasonable. It's
>> like abstinence-only sex education: being unwilling to accomodate real world
>> conditions, it ends up sabotaging its own goals.
>>
>> But that's probably not an arugment to get into here ;-)
>>
>> On 3/22/10 11:36 AM, "Luis Ibanez" <luis.ibanez at kitware.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Kent,
>>>
>>>
>>> Your summary is correct.
>>>
>>>
>>> 1) Yes, ITK's BDS license has minimal conditions and it is one of the
>>>     most permissive licenses approved by the Open Source Initiative.
>>>
>>> 2) Code covered by the GPL license can not be incorporated into ITK.
>>>
>>> 3) Code covered by the LGPL license can not be incorporated into ITK.
>>>
>>> 4) Yes, code incorporated into ITK must be under a BSD license or
>>>     under a license that has less restrictions than the BSD license.
>>>     The ACM license is very restrictive, therefore we must replace
>>>     any code in ITK that is subject to that license.
>>>
>>> 5) Yes, in extremely useful cases we carry code that may facilitate
>>>     to interface to GPL and/or LGPL code. Such adaptor classes are
>>>     to be enabled by the user, via a CMake flag.  It is then up to the
>>>     users to deal with the consequences of their applications becoming
>>>     subject to the GPL license.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>        Luis
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> ----------
>>> On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 11:34 AM, kent williams
>>> <norman-k-williams at uiowa.edu> wrote:
>>>> Correct me if I'm wrong but here's my executive overview of ITK licensing.
>>>>
>>>> 1. ITK itself is released with a BSD-like license, meaning that it's truly
>>>> Free software, in that anyone can use it any way they want to --
>>>> incorporating it into both open- and closed-source applications.
>>>>
>>>> 2. GPL has the 'viral hook' disadvantage, in that it forces anything
>>>> incorporating GPL-licensed software to also be GPL licensed.  This is
>>>> incompatible with ITK's license, so ITK doesn't incorporate GPL-licensed
>>>> software.
>>>>
>>>> 3. The Lesser GPL (LGPL) license is GPL minus the 'viral hook.' GLIBC is
>>>> released under GPL; otherwise no closed-source program would be legal on
>>>> Linux, or OSX.  LGPL libraries could potentially be incorporated into ITK.
>>>>
>>>> 4. Anything incorporated into ITK has to have an unambiguous software
>>>> license compatible with the ITK license.  Thus the current search to replace
>>>> the linear algebra stuff apparently under ACM license restrictions.
>>>>
>>>> 5. In extraordinary cases, (FFTW being the prime example), ITK will include
>>>> classes that depend on GPL-licensed libraries, but without including the
>>>> library as part of ITK. It's up to the ITK user to resolve their own
>>>> licensing questions if they configure ITK to use these GPL-licensed
>>>> libraries.
>>>>
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>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
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>>
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>>
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> _______________________________________________
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>
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> http://kitware.com/products/protraining.html
>
> Please keep messages on-topic and check the ITK FAQ at:
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