[R-gui] GPL licensing issues with a commercial R GUI

[Gavin Simpson]

I am not a lawyer, but at important distinction here is what one means
by "linked". You're not linking against R if you just run some R code
through it and capture the output for example. This is how Brodgar, for
example, does what Serge wants to achieve --- see their statement on R,
Brodgar and the GPL:

www.brodgar.com

http://www.brodgar.com/brodgar.htm#2.%20Brodgar%20and%20R

Whilst, from a personal point of view agree with Michael's statement
about producing an open source app and then sell support, we all don;t
have to follow that moral.

G

On Tue, 2008-05-13 at 02:05 -0700, Michael Lawrence wrote:
> Well, there's a big question as to whether non-GPL can link to GPL code.
> It's never been really tested in court. If I were you, I'd just make it
> open-source and sell your support for it.
> 
> On Sun, May 11, 2008 at 5:19 AM, Serge Merzliakov <smerzlia at optusnet.com.au>
> wrote:
> 
> > All,
> >  I am interested in devloping a commercial java-based (why the language is
> > important is discussed later) GUI for R. The app would allow the GUI to edit
> > R commands and the results displayed in varios means. I have investigated
> > various java based libraries to invoke R and they follow the apache license
> > model (friendlier to commercial software developers). I understand the that
> > R is released under the GPL license, which I have a reasonable understanding
> > of.  SO my question is simple, Can I develop a a commerical GUI for R (which
> > would require R to be isntalled separately on the machine) without having to
> > also release my source code ?
> >
> > I am hoping that some of core R development team see this and can provide
> > useful feedback.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Serge
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > R-SIG-GUI mailing list
> > R-SIG-GUI at stat.math.ethz.ch
> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-gui
> >
> 
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