Marshall Clow wrote:
Perhaps Boost shouldn't reinvent the wheel? There's already an open-source arbitrary precision arithmetic library: http://gmplib.org/
Which says: GMP is distributed under the GNU LGPL. This license makes the library free to use, share, and improve, and allows you to pass on the result. The license gives freedoms, but also sets firm restrictions on the use with non-free programs.
There are people using Boost for both free and non-free programs. It's my understanding that we (Boost) want to continue to support all of them.
It was my understanding that the difference between the GPL and the LGPL was that libraries under the LGPL may be used in non-free programs. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-not-lgpl.html That article is written from the free software movement point of view, but the first paragraph does make as much clear. Whether it's actually 'compatible' with the boost license, I have no idea. -- Michiel Helvensteijn