[Coin-discuss] license issues

[John Pye]

Hi Bill,

I'm not all that clear on it myself. I found these comments on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Public_License

CPL would be one of the less common open source licenses. Given that
it's said to be incompatible with the far-and-away most common open
source license, namely the GPL, I'm curious why it was that CPL was
chosen for COIN? I wonder if you could perhaps explain what the
conditions were that you wanted to enforce?

In the case of my project, ASCEND, for example, we wanted to make a
completely free modelling tool that could not be swallowed up inside a
larger commercial piece of software without our explicit agreement.
Perhaps it is important that use of IPOPT and other COIN software be
allowed inside commercial stuff. In that case, perhaps the LGPL would be
a better choice than the CPL?

Cheers
JP

Hart, William E wrote:

>FYI, the discussion that JP refers to is available at:
>
>  http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html
>
>I can't say that I understand the gist of the incompatibility...
>
>--Bill 
>
>  
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: coin-discuss-bounces at list.coin-or.org 
>>[mailto:coin-discuss-bounces at list.coin-or.org] On Behalf Of John Pye
>>Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 7:59 AM
>>To: coin-discuss at list.coin-or.org
>>Subject: [Coin-discuss] license issues
>>
>>Hi all,
>>
>>I've just come across COIN and the IPOPT solver, and was 
>>thinking about looking at it as a possible open source 
>>alternative to the CONOPT solver that we currently rely on 
>>for some of the functionality in the ASCEND modelling 
>>environment (another CMU project).
>>
>>I was wondering why IPOPT has chosen the Common Public License.
>>According to the GNU website, this license is not compatible 
>>with the GPL, which means that although IPOPT is open source, 
>>we can't legally distribute it with our software. Perversely, 
>>it seems that it is easier to use IPOPT in commercial 
>>projects than in free projects!
>>
>>Is there a good reason why the CPL is applied to IPOPT -- 
>>perhaps another license could be used instead, such as the 
>>GPL or LGPL license?
>>
>>I note that this discussion also appears to have taken place 
>>on the CppAd list, and the Boost license was suggested there 
>>as an alternative.
>>
>>Cheers
>>JP
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>>
>>    
>>
>
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