From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Eric S Fraga Subject: Re: How to make a non-GPL Org-mode exporter? Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2015 17:54:01 +0100 Message-ID: <874mkptuc6.fsf@ucl.ac.uk> References: <87pp3dvm18.fsf@mbork.pl> <87wpxlocpz.fsf@ucl.ac.uk> <87k2tlvbbk.fsf@mbork.pl> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:36822) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ZJlfO-0007tD-Jn for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 27 Jul 2015 12:54:19 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ZJlfL-0005SH-BM for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 27 Jul 2015 12:54:18 -0400 Received: from mail-am1on0107.outbound.protection.outlook.com ([157.56.112.107]:51520 helo=emea01-am1-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ZJlfL-0005RK-2n for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 27 Jul 2015 12:54:15 -0400 In-Reply-To: <87k2tlvbbk.fsf@mbork.pl> (Marcin Borkowski's message of "Mon, 27 Jul 2015 18:01:51 +0200") List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: Marcin Borkowski Cc: Org-Mode mailing list On Monday, 27 Jul 2015 at 18:01, Marcin Borkowski wrote: [...] > And what if I explicitly want people to be able to use my code in > a proprietary software? Or if I just want to use the "Unlicense"? Or > if I don't want to use GPL on principle? (And if I still consider Emacs You are perfectly able to do all of the above with *your* code. What you cannot do is "unlicense" my code which I may have released under GPL. This is the crux. I, and others, have not released our codes to be used however *you* see fit. We have released them under GPL which was our decision. If your code is not based on mine (or any other code released under GPL), then by all means do what you want with it and give whatever rights away you wish. If, however, it is based on GPL, you cannot do so. If you write a new exporter based purely on the documented API for use with org, you can distribute that perfectly fine with whatever licence you wish, AFAIK. If you take an existing exporter and modify it for your target, then you cannot do other than release with GPL. Likewise for your tutorial: if it refers to org documentation (e.g. link to Worg or (info)), that is fine; if it includes org documentation, you are back to having to release using GPL. (I'm not a lawyer -- the above is based on my understanding of the intent of those of us using GPL as part of org.) I'm off to make dinner now... :-) cheers, eric -- : Eric S Fraga (0xFFFCF67D), Emacs 25.0.50.1, Org release_8.3beta-1293-g985420