Re: [libreplanet-discuss] applying the GPL to some clojure code

[Nico Rikken]

Hi Catonano,

I have been pondering on this exact same issue. EPL and GPL are
incompatible.

A 'hack' might be to make your code work with the Pixie language, as it
is licensed LGPL. This might still be an issue as many other libraries
in Clojure are EPL as well.

Dual-licensing or choosing a 'permissive license' could enable both EPL
distribution and GPL distribution. This is especially important as it
enables future GPL projects to build on your project, potentially
modifying your code to work with GPL-friendly code like Pixie provides.

An Apache or BSD license is probably most permissive, but another option
would be to choose the EUPL, which allows inclusion in EPL projects and
enables a two-step re-licensing to the GPL.
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#EUPL

I lack a formal legal training, so please do your own investigation.
Either way, I'd be glad to know your future findings on this topic,
especially now that Clojure is becoming more mainstream.

Regards,
Nico Rikken (NL)

On do, 2015-12-03 at 22:20 +1300, Koz Ross wrote:
> On Thu, 3 Dec 2015 10:14:09 +0100
> Catonano <catonano@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Hello people,
> > 
> > If this is not the right place, I apologize.
> > 
> > I'd like to apply the GPL license to a small clojure project of mine.
> > 
> > I know that clojure requires the GPL to mention an exception because
> > the clojure core libraries and runtime are released under the EPL
> > 
> > I don't know how to apply that exception.
> > 
> > I'm not a lawyer and I don't want to do mistakes
> > 
> > Any help appreciated
> > 
> > The background is here
> > https://medium.com/@catonano/a-daunting-job-ab19d8cc972a#.dfe8gbp9j
> > (I gave up on Grafter, since I wrote that article and managed to
> > write an 8 Gb file with my code since then)
> 
> 
> You're a bit out of luck I'm afraid - the EPL and GPL simply cannot
> play along in Clojure, as everything in Clojure (thanks to Java) is
> statically-linked. As you'd be linking EPL code into GPL code, no
> exception will save you. I've investigated this issue before, and have
> asked several people, all of whom have given me this answer.

signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part