BSD for toolset, GPL for apps

Donnal Walter donnal at donnal.net
Tue Mar 25 16:51:08 UTC 2003


As an academic physician I am working on a set of custom clinical 
applications using Python and wxPython that I wish to make open-source. 
I have started this project by working on a *framework* for such 
applications (called Mindwrapper), and because Python and wxPython both 
have licenses somewhat similar to BSD, I have released the first version 
of Mindwrapper under a BSD license. My intention is to continue 
development of Mindwrapper using BSD.

OTOH, I would like to use a GPL license for the custom clinical 
applications (the set of which I call Prism) that I will develop using 
Mindwrapper. Is this combination of licenses reasonable?

My thinking is this. I want to make sure that the clinical (Prism) 
programs always remain free, but I don't especially care if the 
(Mindwrapper) tool set is used as part of a proprietary product. What I 
clearly do want is for other Python and wxPython developers to feel 
comfortable contributing to Mindwrapper, and my clear sense is that most 
of them prefer BSD-style over GPL-style licenses.

Donnal Walter, M.D.
Arkansas Children's Hospital


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