[R-gui] GPL licensing issues with a commercial R GUI

I am not a lawyer, but at important distinction here is what one means
by "linked". You're not linking against R if you just run some R code
through it and capture the output for example. This is how Brodgar, for
example, does what Serge wants to achieve --- see their statement on R,
Brodgar and the GPL:

www.brodgar.com

http://www.brodgar.com/brodgar.htm#2.%20Brodgar%20and%20R

Whilst, from a personal point of view agree with Michael's statement
about producing an open source app and then sell support, we all don;t
have to follow that moral.

G

On Tue, 2008-05-13 at 02:05 -0700, Michael Lawrence wrote:
  

Well, there's a big question as to whether non-GPL can link to GPL code.
It's never been really tested in court. If I were you, I'd just make it
open-source and sell your support for it.

On Sun, May 11, 2008 at 5:19 AM, Serge Merzliakov <smerzlia at optusnet.com.au>
wrote:

    

All,
 I am interested in devloping a commercial java-based (why the language is
important is discussed later) GUI for R. The app would allow the GUI to edit
R commands and the results displayed in varios means. I have investigated
various java based libraries to invoke R and they follow the apache license
model (friendlier to commercial software developers). I understand the that
R is released under the GPL license, which I have a reasonable understanding
of.  SO my question is simple, Can I develop a a commerical GUI for R (which
would require R to be isntalled separately on the machine) without having to
also release my source code ?

I am hoping that some of core R development team see this and can provide
useful feedback.

Regards,
Serge

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