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Re: (libffi) Re: Copyright issue
On Fri, 2006-01-27 at 18:03 +0100, Thomas Heller wrote:
> [I've added python-dev to cc:]
>
> Anthony Green <green@redhat.com> writes:
>
> > On Fri, 2006-01-27 at 17:08 +0100, Thomas Heller wrote:
> >> Anyway, another question is: Is aclocal.m4 needed at all for building
> >> (or maybe for regenerating the configure scripts), or is it optional?
> >
> > aclocal.m4 is required, but is only used as a build-time tool. The fact
> > that aclocal.m4 is distributed under the GPL should have no impact on
> > the licensing terms used for software built using aclocal.m4.
>
> If I understand correctly this means that the Python source distribution
> would have to be GPL licensed, while the built programs would be able to
> use another license.
>
> I'm pretty sure this kills the whole idea (to include libffi in python).
I guess I wasn't clear. aclocal.m4 is just a tool used to build libffi.
Like your C compiler. Bundling it with the Python source distribution
should have no impact on the licensing of Python itself, since it isn't
really part of the resulting Python binary - just like your C compiler
isn't.
AG