[BioRuby] License

[Angel Pizarro]

I believe that a consistent license is best, but let's not let that be a
barrier to release. Strictly speaking, GPL is not as restrictive as it
perceived to be by the general public. For more information look here:

http://www.sitepoint.com/article/public-license-explained

What this means for Ruby (and Rails applications) is that unless you extend
the GPL module in some way (for instance wrapping a C library in SWIG to
derive a Ruby C extension or adding methods to a module/class) it is not
effected by the GPL and can be released along with other licensing terms.
Simply calling the methods of a module does not constitute a "derived
work".  Passing data between modules is also not considered a derived work.

Cheers!
-angel

On 3/28/07, Toshiaki Katayama <ktym at hgc.jp> wrote:
>
> Dear BioRuby developers,
>
> Few months ago, we made decision to change the license of BioRuby library
> from LGPL to Ruby's (same terms as Ruby) so that user who can use Ruby
> is also able to use BioRuby not be bothered by legal restrictions.
>
> We are now working on the next release and this is the time to complete
> changes on every modules.
>
> * Alex, could you agree with us to change the license of your PDB modules?
>
> * Fujita-san, Suga-san, could you agree with us to change the license of
> your HMMER module?
>
> * Shigenobu-san, could you agree with us to change the license of your
> Fastacmd module?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Regards,
> Toshiaki Katayama
>
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