[Paraview] legal question

[Berk Geveci]

Yes, it is annoyingly complicated. Here is my understanding of the whole thing:

* The binaries we are distributing are under GPL since I use the
GPL'ed version of Qt to make binaries (due to popular demand). We can
do this because we also freely distribute the ParaView source under a
compatible license.

* The source is distributed under BSD. This is OK because we use the
commercial version of Qt to develop it.

* It is OK for us to accept small code/patches developed with GPL'ed
version of Qt.

* You can build plugins that depend on only ParaView libraries and not
Qt under any license you want.

* You can distribute these plugins under any license you want.

* What happens when someone loads those plugins from the ParaView
binaries we distribute is not clear to me. However, there is no way
for this to have any impact on the license under which you distribute
your plugin. That would be like saying if I load a Windows codec in a
GPL'ed application, that codec becomes GPL'ed. I am sure Microsoft
would object to that :-)

* If you are developing plugins that depend on Qt, they either have to
be GPL'ed or you have to have a commercial Qt license.

In summary, I would

* not but a Qt license if I am distributing VTK/server manager only plugins
* buy a Qt license I am distributing plugins that include and link against Qt

-berk


On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 4:52 AM, Dominik Szczerba <dominik at itis.ethz.ch> wrote:
> As I thought, this is getting quite complicated.
>
> Ideally, I would like to distribute just plugins, but have seen way too many
> discussions on the list how to do it right and robust, so am considering
> just a whole build for simplicity.
>
> Question is: do I need a commercial QT license. But I seem to get the
> answer: no, as long as I do not use it myself and only rely on PV whose
> source I reference.
>
> Thanks,
> Dominik
>
> John Biddiscombe wrote:
>>
>> To clarify myself, I realize that I erred after clicking send.....
>>
>> If Dominik is ditributing a standard version of paraview, and his plugins
>> are only vtk/cxx/etc with no Qt custom panels, then it is safe to distribute
>> freely and all is well. the distribution should refer to the source location
>> of standard paraview, and the custom plugins can be closed source.
>>
>> If there are custom panels using Qt code, then the Qt license becomes
>> necessary if it is not GPL.
>>
>> Better?
>>
>> JB
>>>
>>> The terms of the Qt license allow, GPL compatible, or commerical. So if
>>> Dominik is making the source code available to his users, he can distribute
>>> freely as GPL, if the source is not available, then he requires a Qt
>>> License.
>>>
>>> I no doubt have oversimplified it and await correction from others.
>>>
>>> JB
>>>>
>>>> I am not an expert on this issue, but it seems like you'd have to buy
>>>> the commercial license to the qt gui libraries.
>>>>
>>>> Juan
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 5:07 PM, Dominik Szczerba <dominik at itis.ethz.ch>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Am I allowed to distribute a binray version of PV bundled with my own
>>>>> plugins? (sorry I am particularly dumb to any legal issues)
>>>>>
>>>>> Dominik
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> ParaView mailing list
>>>>> ParaView at paraview.org
>>>>> http://www.paraview.org/mailman/listinfo/paraview
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> ParaView at paraview.org
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> John Biddiscombe,                            email:biddisco @ cscs.ch
>>> http://www.cscs.ch/
>>> CSCS, Swiss National Supercomputing Centre  | Tel:  +41 (91) 610.82.07
>>> Via Cantonale, 6928 Manno, Switzerland      | Fax:  +41 (91) 610.82.82
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> http://www.paraview.org/mailman/listinfo/paraview
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> John Biddiscombe,                            email:biddisco @ cscs.ch
>> http://www.cscs.ch/
>> CSCS, Swiss National Supercomputing Centre  | Tel:  +41 (91) 610.82.07
>> Via Cantonale, 6928 Manno, Switzerland      | Fax:  +41 (91) 610.82.82
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
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>> ParaView at paraview.org
>> http://www.paraview.org/mailman/listinfo/paraview
>
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