Mailing List Archive

gpgme license
Hi,

since the Aegypten-2 project, we committed ourselves to use gpgme in KDEPIM to
interface to gnupg 1.x (and pre-2.0).

Unfortunately, this conflicts with the possibility to have KDEPIM native on
Windows. The problem here is of course that Qt on Windows is not available in
a GPL version, and the alternative cygwin solution is considered by many to
not be native enough to compete with native Windows solutions.

So on behalf of the KDEPIM team I'd like to ask the gpgme team to consider a
change in the license of gpgme. We would be interested in having either the
Qt exception added (see below for the exact wording (same as the one
suggested in the FSF FAQ)), or go the full way and have it LGPL.

The benfits for gpgme/gnupg would be a chance to gain in the size of the user
base. As we have seen during Aegypten-2, KDEPIM using gpgme seriously let to
a lot of bug fixes and portability fixes for gpgme being posted back upstream
from libgpgme-copy in KDEPIM CVS. The change in usebase from Unix to Windows
could have a similar effect on the stability and portability of gpgme.

What are your thoughts on this issue?

Qt exception as is is currently worded in KMail:
In addition, as a special exception, the copyright holders give
permission to link the code of this program with any edition of
the Qt library by Trolltech AS, Norway (or with modified versions
of Qt that use the same license as Qt), and distribute linked
combinations including the two. You must obey the GNU General
Public License in all respects for all of the code used other than
Qt. If you modify this file, you may extend this exception to
your version of the file, but you are not obligated to do so. If
you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement from
your version.

Marc

--
Marc Mutz -- marc@klaralvdalens-datakonsult.se, mutz@kde.org
Klarälvdalens Datakonsult AB, Platform-independent software solutions
Re: gpgme license [ In reply to ]
Werner expressed his views on LGPL'ing GPGME publicly last time here:
http://www.advogato.org/article/685.html

Now, this is already a year old, and doesn't concern the Qt exemption
you are proposing as an alternative. Maybe Werner wants to say more
about that.

At Wed, 25 Aug 2004 12:21:14 +0200,
Marc Mutz wrote:

> Hi,
>
> since the Aegypten-2 project, we committed ourselves to use gpgme in KDEPIM to
> interface to gnupg 1.x (and pre-2.0).
>
> Unfortunately, this conflicts with the possibility to have KDEPIM native on
> Windows. The problem here is of course that Qt on Windows is not available in
> a GPL version, and the alternative cygwin solution is considered by many to
> not be native enough to compete with native Windows solutions.
>
> So on behalf of the KDEPIM team I'd like to ask the gpgme team to consider a
> change in the license of gpgme. We would be interested in having either the
> Qt exception added (see below for the exact wording (same as the one
> suggested in the FSF FAQ)), or go the full way and have it LGPL.
>
> The benfits for gpgme/gnupg would be a chance to gain in the size of the user
> base. As we have seen during Aegypten-2, KDEPIM using gpgme seriously let to
> a lot of bug fixes and portability fixes for gpgme being posted back upstream
> from libgpgme-copy in KDEPIM CVS. The change in usebase from Unix to Windows
> could have a similar effect on the stability and portability of gpgme.
>
> What are your thoughts on this issue?
>
> Qt exception as is is currently worded in KMail:
> In addition, as a special exception, the copyright holders give
> permission to link the code of this program with any edition of
> the Qt library by Trolltech AS, Norway (or with modified versions
> of Qt that use the same license as Qt), and distribute linked
> combinations including the two. You must obey the GNU General
> Public License in all respects for all of the code used other than
> Qt. If you modify this file, you may extend this exception to
> your version of the file, but you are not obligated to do so. If
> you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement from
> your version.
>
> Marc
>
> --
> Marc Mutz -- marc@klaralvdalens-datakonsult.se, mutz@kde.org
> Klarälvdalens Datakonsult AB, Platform-independent software solutions
>
> _______________________________________________
> Gpa-dev mailing list
> Gpa-dev@gnupg.org
> http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gpa-dev
>