mirror of https://github.com/CGAL/cgal
52 lines
2.3 KiB
TeX
Executable File
52 lines
2.3 KiB
TeX
Executable File
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\section{License Issues}
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\cgal\ is Open Source software, and consists of different parts covered by different licenses.
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In this section we explain the essence of the different licenses, as well as the rationale
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why we have chosen them.
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The fact that \cgal is Open Source software does not mean that users are free to do whatever they
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want with the software. Using the software means to accept the license,
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which has the status of a contract between the user and the owner of \cgal\ software.
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\subsection{Qpl \label{licenses:QPL}}
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The {\sc Qpl} is an Open Source license that obliges you to distribute your software
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based on {\sc Qpl}ed \cgal\ data structures. The rationale behind this is that we
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can claim access to your software. The license further obliges you to put your
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software under an Open Source license as well. The rationale behind is that
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we can distribute your software, even if this is not your intention.
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Finally, the {\sc Qpl} requires that, if you modify \cgal, you distribute the
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modification in the form of patches and you distribute the source of your changes
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as well.
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The exact license terms as well as an annotated version of the license can be found
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at the Trolltech web site.
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\subsection{LGPL \label{licenses:LGPL}}
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The {\sc Lgpl} is an Open Source license that obliges you to distribute modifications
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you make on \cgal\ software accessible to the users. There is no obligation to make
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the source cod of software you build on top of {\sc Lgpl}ed \cgal\ data structures available.
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Currently the linear kernel, the support library, the halfedge data structure,
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the Kinetic data structures, and the mesh subdivision framework are distrubuted
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under the {\sc Lgpl}. The rationale behind is that we want to promote them as a defacto
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standard.
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The exact license terms can be found at the Free Software Foundation web site.
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\subsection{Commercial Licenses \label{licenses:Commercial}}
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Users who cannot comply to the Open Source license terms can buy individual
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data structures under various commercial licenses from GeometryFactory (www.geometryfactory.com).
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\subsection{License Compatibility \label{licenses:Compatibility}}
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Note that the {\sc Gpl} is not compatible with the {\sc Qpl}. If you write
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{\sc Gpl}ed software and you want to combine it with {\sc Qpl}ed \cgal\ data
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structures, you can make it compatible by adding....
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