0

Recently came across pidgin. Its great, and does what I want, but I am not too keen on the GPL license. Other any alternatives, with less restrictive licenses?

I would prefer the library to be C or C++, as I am most familiar with those languages, but a an IM library implemented in python would be interesting too.

morpheous
  • 16,270
  • 32
  • 89
  • 120
  • 2
    Wow, I just checked out the website for pidgin and even AddIns have to be GPL. – wcm Jun 07 '10 at 18:09
  • what do you mean "restrictive"? i.e. what is exactly the points in GPL that makes you feel "restricted" in your intended usage of what (going into commercial so GPL prohibits something you need)? You mean the library of course... (maybe is not LGPL licensed, this is the problem?) – ShinTakezou Jun 07 '10 at 18:19
  • The nice thing about the GPL is it doesn't require you to release your software - so internal use is A-OK. If you're trying to make money at it then you need to move to a service-oriented model. – Wayne Werner Jun 07 '10 at 19:24
  • Internal users can ask you for the source code, change it, then give away the result to anybody else under less restrictive terms, and you can't stop them... at least, not according to the GPL. (See sections 6, 7, 9 and 10 of GPL v3.) I rather suspect this makes the GPL incompatible with most contracts of employment and/or NDAs signed. (My last employer had a blanket ban on incorporation of GPL code into anything written for the company, products or internal tools alike, for this very reason; I believe this is fairly common.) –  Jun 07 '10 at 21:09
  • Please consult a qualified legal professional before coming to a decision that is final one way or the other. My message fulfils neither criterion. –  Jun 07 '10 at 21:10

2 Answers2

4

Take a look at kde's kopete. The chat client itself is still GPL but it's underlying library libkopete is LGPL. So you could link with it pretty freely.

deft_code
  • 57,255
  • 29
  • 141
  • 224
  • kopete uses a library like libpurple? (it's a question) – ShinTakezou Jun 07 '10 at 18:20
  • Kopete runs on it's own library called libkopete. The library is lgpl, whereas the app is gpl. I don't know how much of the of kopete's functionality is contained in libkopete. – deft_code Jun 07 '10 at 18:50
  • caspin: thanks. I had not heard of kopete before now. It seems to have the functionality I need. It seems more stable than Twisted Words and is also written in C/C++, which is good. But I cant find any docs on libkopete (tech info and licensing info). Google search for 'libkopete', brings up dead links. Where can I get the docs? – morpheous Jun 07 '10 at 21:46
  • There is a libkopete directory in Kopete's svn repo. http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/KDE/kdenetwork/kopete It looks like the documentation is built when you build Kopete. I suggest downloading Kopete, building it then copying the libkopete stuff out for your use. – deft_code Jun 07 '10 at 22:14
1

Twisted Words

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
  • 776,304
  • 153
  • 1,341
  • 1,358
  • MIT licence, if the OPer want to know..., which is more permissive if the restriction of the OPer are about wanting to make proprietary sw – ShinTakezou Jun 07 '10 at 18:21