On Sat, Mar 28, 2009 at 12:55 PM, Tim Starling tstarling@wikimedia.org wrote:
The GPL restriction on linking with non-GPL code is irrelevant for a non-compiled language, when all we're distributing is the source code. I could find nothing in the GPL that contradicts this interpretation.
Even for mixed-license projects written in C, it's legal to distribute the source code, just not the compiled binaries.
If that is infact the case then its a bug that should be fixed in a later version of the license. GPL is intended to be copyleft. You ought not be able to make material enhancements to the internals of copylefted software under a non-copyleft license. If the fact that PHP is conventionally used as 'source' dodges the restriction in the GPL thats an oversight.
If the intention is for mediawiki to not be copylefted, why is it using the GPL at all? Better to not rely on a dodgy corner case of the license.