On Sat, Mar 28, 2009 at 12:55 PM, Tim Starling <tstarling(a)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.