Hello,
my name is Martin, and I like the functionality of CloudCompare very much.
However, I have not much experience with opensource software anI have a question about using CloudCompare under the GNU GPL.
As I have understand it, all software based on CloudCompare has to be GPL also. My question is in the other direction. Are there components in CloudCompare that are not under GPL which coukd cause problems when I use it?
Best regards,
Martin
License question
Re: License question
In fact any distributed software including GPL code must publish/share its own code as well as any modification made on the imported source (so yes, it's almost the same as being GPL but it could be another open source equivalent). Note that if you keep the software 'private', you have about no obligation of any kind (apart from being kind enough to report bugs ;).
All components are GPL but:
- the core algorithm library (CCLib) which is LGPL (so it's less contaminant)
- the various (academic) libraries on which plugins depend (PoissonRecon3, RansacShapeDetection, RandomKit, etc.) which have their own licenses. But you can easily avoid any issue by removing the plugin files if you have any doubt.
All components are GPL but:
- the core algorithm library (CCLib) which is LGPL (so it's less contaminant)
- the various (academic) libraries on which plugins depend (PoissonRecon3, RansacShapeDetection, RandomKit, etc.) which have their own licenses. But you can easily avoid any issue by removing the plugin files if you have any doubt.
Daniel, CloudCompare admin