[CMake] improve the CMake language?

Brandon Van Every bvanevery at gmail.com
Mon Nov 5 18:21:38 EST 2007


On Nov 5, 2007 5:30 PM, Gonzalo Garramuño <ggarra at advancedsl.com.ar> wrote:
> Brandon Van Every wrote:
> >
> > I didn't realize that Ruby is GPLed.  http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/LICENSE.txt
> > Oh well, so much for embedding Ruby!
>
> It isn't.  Where did you get that idea from !?  Brandon, you have a
> tendency to email FUD that is amazing... even when you provide links to
> text that clearly states exactly the opposite of what you say.

Hey man I was in a hurry, and at a glance, the Ruby license is clear
as mud.  I saw the word "GPL" at the top of that doc, and blasting
through the license text I thought I saw the typical GPLed terms.  I
see now I was mistaken.  I don't appreciate your indignation about FUD
though; you're not paying me to go over licenses with a fine toothed
comb.  If people say things that are incorrect - or that you think are
incorrect - you're free to correct them or disagree with them.  You
might also consider how you'd like people to react to your own
mistakes.

Clauses (2a 2b 3a 3b) are "like a GPL," hence my confusion.  Clauses
(2d 3d) are a "talk to the author" escape hatch; a lot of people
aren't going to do that.  I see that clauses (2c 3c) give the "do
whatever you like" freedom - long as you ship original Ruby along with
your altered stuff.  That is probably acceptable to a lot of people,
but the bloat could be unacceptable for some embedded applications.
Also sometimes people are contractually stuck with "no viral license"
clauses as far as software they can use.

> Ruby is distributed under a dual LGPL / Ruby License.

That link says GPL, not LGPL.

> The Ruby License is a MIT-like license.

Hardly.  MIT is a simple license.  In addition to the complications
above, clause (4) leaves one wondering about some of the core
components.

The Ruby license, when seen through the lens of "do what you want," is
like a more restrictive version of zlib/libpng.   In fact I'm sure
I've seen an OSI license of the form "do what you want, but you must
also ship the originals," but I can't remember the name of it.

This isn't MIT / BSD.  Is it acceptable for CMake embedding?


Cheers,
Brandon Van Every


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