On Mon, 2004-07-12 at 23:24 +0200, Thomas Linden wrote:
You can read everywhere about this 'gpl-compatibility' thing. But what is compatibility in fact? IMHO this has to mean one license is compatible to another and back. Which is not the case with the GPL.
"Compatible" means "works together". The BSD licence is as much GPL- compatible as the GPL is BSD-compatible.
But it is *not* possible to create a new project, use some GPLed code and release the whole thing under the BSD license, because of the unique infecting behavior of the GPL.
You can never relicence other people's code. The GPL doesn't allow you to do that either - so, I don't think you're right to call the GPL "infecting". If you combine two pieces of software that are licenced differently, you must fulfil the obligations of *both* simultaneously: you must respect the BSD licence as much as the GPL.
Cheers,
Alex.