Re: Loading of Matlab 5 Files

[Doug Warner]

>>>>> "jwe" == John W Eaton <address@hidden> writes:

[discussion of using the Mathworks MAT-file library routines to
 read/save v5 mat-files deleted]

    jwe> You have to be precise about exactly what you mean by `included along
    jwe> with'.  If you mean, ``can proprietary libraries be linked with code
    jwe> that is distributed under the terms of the GPL?'' then the answer is
    jwe> no, because linking them together creates a derivative work, and to do
    jwe> that, the GPL says that you must be able to distribute the result
    jwe> under the terms of the GPL.  You can only do that if the distribution
    jwe> terms for all the code is compatible with the GPL.  For this case, it
    jwe> would mean that you would need to be able to get source for the
    jwe> MathWorks' libraries and have the right to freely redistribute
    jwe> modified versions.

This is a bit bothersome, I think.  Does this not then imply that any
oct-functions I write *must* be freely distributable?  What does the
LGPL say about this?

Doug Warner