GPL license and eiffel studio
On https://www2.eiffel.com/download/download_info.aspx?id=eiffelstudio&info=false&mirrors=eiffelstudio you can download the IDE "eiffelstudio".
They have GPL as their license but they also specify that "The GPL version is for the purpose of developing open-source software only! If you want to evaluate EiffelStudio for commercial software development, please download our Enterprise Evaluation Edition."
However as far as i know this is directly against the gpl. Can they really specify such restrictions while adhering to the GPL?
IANAL and I am not familiar with Eiffel, however I am reasonably sure their statement, "The GPL version is for the purpose of developing open-source software only! If you want to evaluate EiffelStudio for commercial software development, please download our Enterprise Evaluation Edition", is a violation of the GPL. The GPL FAQ states that the output of a GPLed program retains the same copyright as it's input:
Can I use GPL-covered editors such as GNU Emacs to develop non-free programs? Can I use GPL-covered tools such as GCC to compile them?
Yes, because the copyright on the editors and tools does not cover the code you write. Using them does not place any restrictions, legally, on the license you use for your code.
Some programs copy parts of themselves into the output for technical reasons—for example, Bison copies a standard parser program into its output file. In such cases, the copied text in the output is covered by the same license that covers it in the source code. Meanwhile, the part of the output which is derived from the program's input inherits the copyright status of the input.
As it happens, Bison can also be used to develop non-free programs. This is because we decided to explicitly permit the use of the Bison standard parser program in Bison output files without restriction. We made the decision because there were other tools comparable to Bison which already permitted use for non-free programs.
This says to me that the code produced by the GPL version of eiffelstudio need not be released under the GPL .
Here's a few more for you:
Is there some way that I can GPL the output people get from use of my program? For example, if my program is used to develop hardware designs, can I require that these designs must be free?
In general this is legally impossible; copyright law does not give you any say in the use of the output people make from their data using your program. If the user uses your program to enter or convert his own data, the copyright on the output belongs to him, not you. More generally, when a program translates its input into some other form, the copyright status of the output inherits that of the input it was generated from.
So the only way you have a say in the use of the output is if substantial parts of the output are copied (more or less) from text in your program. For instance, part of the output of Bison (see above) would be covered by the GNU GPL, if we had not made an exception in this specific case.
You could artificially make a program copy certain text into its output even if there is no technical reason to do so. But if that copied text serves no practical purpose, the user could simply delete that text from the output and use only the rest. Then he would not have to obey the conditions on redistribution of the copied text.
In what cases is the output of a GPL program covered by the GPL too?
Only when the program copies part of itself into the output.
I was wondering about this also since their commercial licensing prices are ridiculous and clearly targeted as big enterprises, no options for freelancers which is I think huge mistake. The only problem with licensing I see is that compiler links your program to core library. If it's also delivered as GPL - then unfortunately you MUST provide your program as GPL licensed also.
Workaround for this problem might be to use Eiffel studio for development, then if you want to deliver software in separate license - compile it using different compiler (geb, tecomp).
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