[Bf-committers] Python Scripts and the GPL

[Tom M]

MIT, 'New' BSD, LGPL, zlib and some other free licenses are all GPL compatible.

The interaction of GPL with non GPLed code and modules when there is
an API is completely unexplored law.  Ie a program could be written
and compiled against an API and be indistinguishable whether it was
compiled against a GPL API or a non GPLed API (Ie WINE vs Windows API,
POSIX vs Linux API), or even written without usage of the actual API
code and just used the specification as could be done with scripted
languages.

Also GPL only covers distribution of the Blender Binary - if you have
users download Blender seperately and then your modules and scripts
are distributed seperately then you almost certainly wouldn't be in
violation of the GPL.

LetterRip

On Tue, Jan 3, 2012 at 4:09 PM, Mitchell Stokes <mogurijin at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I hate to bring up the GPL again, but I am rather confused on the
> subject and I was hoping someone could enlighten me on the matter. My
> primary concern is the BGE (and the corresponding bge module), but I
> think the same thoughts can be applied to bpy as well. Now, I have
> read the GPL for Artists FAQ entry on the matter[0], but it seems
> rather vague on a few points. For one, it seems to suggest that if I
> were to import a 3rd party module that has C code, then that 3rd party
> module must be GPL (the FAQ says nothing about GPL-compatible). This
> of course severely limits the number of libraries that can be used
> with Blender and the BGE. For example, if I want to use the MIT
> licensed PyENet library[1] in my game, I wouldn't be able to without
> violating the GPL. And, for that matter if I could still use PyENet,
> it would force all of my modules to be GPL (again, the FAQ says
> nothing about GPL-compatible). Furthermore, the section on games and
> the GPL in the FAQ[2] says I only need to make the files available
> under the GPL if they are bundled into the Blenderplayer, but it says
> nothing about scripts. What if I have a script inside a blend file
> that makes a call to PyENet, is this blendfile now forced to be GPL
> regardless of whether or not it is bundled in the Blenderplayer? And
> if the script wasn't inside the blendfile, but still accessed from the
> blendfile?
>
> Cheers,
> Mitchell Stokes
>
> [0] http://www.blender.org/education-help/faq/gpl-for-artists/#c2129
> [1] https://code.google.com/p/pyenet/
> [2] http://www.blender.org/education-help/faq/gpl-for-artists/#c2130
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