[PyKDE] Which license applies to portable python scripts?

[Gerard Vermeulen]

On Sat, 19 Apr 2003 08:31:23 +0100
Phil Thompson <phil at river-bank.demon.co.uk> wrote:

> On Saturday 19 April 2003 5:03 am, Toru Furukawa wrote:
> > In Qt Non Commercial License v1.0, I found
> >
> >  4. You are as an individual granted a personal, non-exclusive
> >  non-transferable license, in a non-commercial setting, to develop
> >  application programs, reusable components and other software items that
> >  link with or in any other way require the Software. These items, when
> >  distributed, are subject to the following requirements:
> >
> > Suppose, I write a Python script (say hello.py) with PyQt for Windows,
> > under Non-Commercial license.  This licese applies to the distribution
> > of hello.py, because hello.py does "import qt", i.e. requires the
> > Software in a way.  If hello.py is portable so that you can run it on
> > Windows, Linux and whatever with PyQt, which license applies to hello.py?
> >
> > Or those licese cover only a complete form of a software, not a script
> > as protion of software?  (hello.py does not run alone, while PyQt and
> > hello.py make a single application)
> 
> Trolltech consider PyQt as just another way of using Qt so the question is the 
> same as if your application was written in C++. So your application must also 
> be licensed under the non-commercial license, and your users must also 
> conform to that license.
> 
> So, while the code might be portable, the license may not be. Your users may 
> only use your application in a "non-commercial setting". Your users may not 
> use the GPL version of Qt (or PyQt) to run your application (because that 
> contravenes the GPL).
> 
Phil, you made me feel a bad guy with respect to PyQwt-win-nc, but now I think
you are wrong on both points.

(1) The second paragraph of term 0 of the GPL starts with:

    Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not
    covered by this License; they are outside its scope.  The act of
    running the Program is not restricted, and ...

    So, it is perfectly legal to feed proprietary scripts into bash or
    proprietary programs into gcc. Why not the Python interpreter?

(2) Points 4a, 4b and 4c of the Qt-Non-Commercial license do not imply that
    the programs may only be used in a non-commercial setting. This is
    clarified in the 'terms of use' section at
    http://www.trolltech.com/download/qt/noncomm.html :
    C++ programs developed with Qt-NC (or python scripts made with PyQt-nc)
    can be released under almost any open source license (a tiny exception for
    the GPL).

Gerard