[Bf-committers] could this be useful for blender ? opensubdiv

[Patrick Shirkey]

On Tue, August 7, 2012 12:45 pm, joe wrote:
> I'm not sure I trust the FSF on this; it has a history of exaggerating the
> restrictiveness of the GPL.

That's a very strange thing to say about the FSF.

>  If we want this library, we should consult a
> lawyer to be sure.

The FSF is pretty much a bunch of Lawyers.

>
> This site from 2008, http://www.opensourcelegal.org/?page_id=532 ,
> apparently thinks MS-pl is compatible with GPL v3, which I believe would
> cover our code (since we have the "or any later versions" GPL clause).
> However, that was written in 2008, and the link to the FSF's website is
> dead; not what I would call a reliable source.
>

Then why refer to it? It could be a propaganda site that was built by
Microsoft to further their agenda.

It is entirely reasonable to trust the FSF about GPL compatibility
especially when discussing a Microsoft License as theere is a long history
of M$ sabotaging projects and the last thing Blender needs is to give
Microsoft an opportunity to scuttle the ship.



> Joe
>
> On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 1:01 AM, Davis Sorenson
> <davis.sorenson at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> According to Wikipedia: (
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_source#Microsoft_Public_License_.28Ms-PL.29
>> )
>> "According to the Free Software Foundation, it is a free software
>> license
>> but not compatible with the GNU GPL." [1]
>>
>> So of all the MS "shared-source" licenses it's the least bad, but still
>> GPL
>> incompatible. It looks very cool, apparently it's what Pixar uses in
>> production so I imagine it is quite good. :) I noticed this quote from
>> them
>> on the project site:
>> "Feel free to use it and let us know what you think through the github
>> site." [2]
>> Maybe it would be worth a try to contact them and ask them about using a
>> different license?
>>
>> [1] http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#ms-pl
>> [2] http://graphics.pixar.com/opensubdiv
>>
>> Davis
>>
>> On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 1:48 AM, rsaavedra at ono.com <rsaavedra at ono.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Hi!,
>> >   I have just seen that pixar has released a parallel subdivision
>> > lib as "open" software and I was wondering if it would be interesting
>> > to use it in blender.
>> >
>> >   http://graphics.pixar.com/opensubdiv
>> >
>> >   It is
>> > released under Microsoft Public License, I haven't read the clausules
>> > of that license and if it is compatible with GPL, I can guess that it
>> > is not, but if somebody can ilustrate us ...
>> >
>> > --
>> > Rafael Rios
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> >
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--
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd