Re: ATLAS and octave

[Johan Kullstam]

"John W. Eaton" <address@hidden> writes:

> On  4-Feb-2000, Timothy H. Keitt <address@hidden> wrote:
> 
> | "John W. Eaton" wrote:
> | 
> | > On  4-Feb-2000, Timothy H. Keitt <address@hidden> wrote:
> | >
> | > There are at least a few reasons that make sense to me.
> | >
> | > First, there are licensing issues.  If the tuned blas libraries are
> | > distributed under terms that are not compatible with the GPL, then
> | > we can't distribute a version of Octave that is linked with them.
> | 
> | Does this include run-time linking?
> 
> Yes.  The GPL doesn't make a distinction between static and dynamic
> or any other method of linking.  I believe the claim is that combining
> the peices by linking them together creates a derivative work, and
> that if you create a derivative work based on GPL code, then you have
> to follow the GPL if you distribute it.
> 
> | If you compile a GPL program that
> | requires libblas.so, can you be excluded from distributing it because 
> someone
> | might dynamically link it to a proprietary libblas.so?
> 
> I think the answer to your specific question is no, because a free
> library exists that can provide the functionality that the program
> requires.
> 
> However, if there is no way to make the program work using software
> that may be distributed under terms compatible with the GPL, there is
> trouble.  As I understand it, the FSF claims that you can't sidestep
> the conditions of the GPL by asking users to do the link.

> My preference is free software that happens to be a good technical
> solution too, so I'm glad to see ATLAS available so we don't have to
> rely on vendor-supplied versions of the BLAS for performance.

gnu emacs can link to motif.  the configure script even provides
--with-x-toolkit=motif.  motif is definately not free.  the link is
dynamic.  emacs being the flagship product of the fsf, i would think
that these issues have been resolved.

-- 
J o h a n  K u l l s t a m
address@hidden
Don't Fear the Penguin!



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