From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Stefan Monnier Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: E-LISP licensing question Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:50:19 -0400 Message-ID: References: <47F3A7C6.5000408@cmedresearch.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1208580884 16937 80.91.229.12 (19 Apr 2008 04:54:44 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 04:54:44 +0000 (UTC) Cc: Geoffrey Teale , emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Glenn Morris Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Apr 19 06:55:12 2008 connect(): Connection refused Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1Jn46b-0005n2-BZ for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 19 Apr 2008 05:51:13 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Jn45w-0005Kx-CG for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:50:32 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1Jn45s-0005Ks-5i for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:50:28 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1Jn45p-0005KJ-PN for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:50:26 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Jn45p-0005KG-JS for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:50:25 -0400 Original-Received: from ironport2-out.pppoe.ca ([206.248.154.182] helo=ironport2-out.teksavvy.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1Jn45k-0006QE-Oc; Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:50:20 -0400 X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: AtYEAEAJCUhMCqsI/2dsb2JhbACBYKoL X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.25,681,1199682000"; d="scan'208";a="18764005" Original-Received: from smtp.pppoe.ca (HELO smtp.teksavvy.com) ([65.39.196.238]) by ironport2-out.teksavvy.com with ESMTP; 18 Apr 2008 23:50:20 -0400 Original-Received: from pastel.home ([76.10.171.8]) by smtp.teksavvy.com (Internet Mail Server v1.0) with ESMTP id ZHR97819; Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:50:19 -0400 Original-Received: by pastel.home (Postfix, from userid 20848) id A45898A3E; Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:50:19 -0400 (EDT) In-Reply-To: (Glenn Morris's message of "Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:49:42 -0400") User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.0.60 (gnu/linux) X-detected-kernel: by monty-python.gnu.org: Genre and OS details not recognized. X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:95428 Archived-At: >> If I write some emacs lisp code does the way emacs deals with that code >> at runtime mean that the code must always be under the GPL? >> >> Or to put it another way... >> >> Does doing (require 'foo.el) link the code into emacs in such a way that >> foo.el must be licensed under the GPL. > I don't really know, but this seems like an important question that > should have a clear answer. > This GPL FAQ seems very relevant, if we consider Emacs as an > interpreter for the Emacs Lisp programming language: > http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#IfInterpreterIsGPL > If a programming language interpreter is released under the GPL, > does that mean programs written to be interpreted by it must be > under GPL-compatible licenses? > I think it's clear that you don't need to license under the GPL > specifically. But you may need to use a GPL-compatible license. > Trying to interpret the answer to that FAQ, it would seem that if you > just write some "pure" Emacs-lisp, you can use whatever license you > like. But if you use any GPL'd elisp libraries, then you need to use a > GPL-compatible license. This raises the question of what we consider > part of the Emacs lisp "language", and what we consider an "extension" > provided by a "library". Perhaps anything not dumped with Emacs is a > "library"? Which means that the requirements could change if a package > starts to be dumped with Emacs... > Can someone give a clear answer to this question? AFAIK, you can't write usable Elisp code which isn't one way or another linked to GPL'd code. The only way to do that would be to write the code in basically the intersection of Elisp and CommonLisp, which precludes operating on buffers, files, etc... Of course that's only true so long as the only Elisp implementations are all GPL'd. Stefan