PanoTools NG:
Re: PTViewer Licensing Question
hd_de_2000 2007-Sep-19 20:09:03
--- In #removed#, Fulvio Senore <mailing@...> wrote:
>
>
> Carl von Einem ha scritto:
> > Another important change of license conditions came with ptviewer 2.1
> > <http://www.panotools.org/mailarchive/msg/7621#msg7621>
> > "GNU-License applies to all extensions of PTViewer, including the
> > QTVR-extension PTMViewer."
> >
> I have always been curious about this: PTViewer is licensed under the
> GPL, but I think that an applet is conceptually similar to a plugin:
> something that under Windows is implemented as a DLL. The browser links
> to the plugin or to the applet.
> It seems that the GLP requires that code linking to a GPL software must
> be open-source: to solve this problem there is the LGPL that lets
> proprietary software link to the library.
>
> So, strictly speaking, Internet Explorer should not be allowed to use
> PTViewer. Maybe PTViewer should have been released under the LGPL.
>
> Does anybody have more information about this?
>
Hi Fulvio,
you can link and use GPL-software in any way you wish! Restrictions
only apply if you _distribute_ the software. Then you have to also
distribute (or otherwise make available) the sources. The user of the
applet may run it on any Java Runtime he/she wishes, be it open source
or not!
Using the PTViewer applet on a website or CD obviously qualifies as
distribution. Using GPL-d applets then requires to either offer the
sources from your site or supply a download link to some place
offering the sources. For _unmodified_ versions of PTViewer I have
waived this particular requirement, so that you can just use it
without any further action.
As soon as changes are made to the applet (like changing the class
name etc) the full requirements of the GPL apply and you must supply
the modified sources together with the applet.
Best regards
Helmut Dersch
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