Re: [Printing-architecture] CUPS 3.x: How we make it converting job data formats?

Michael Sweet <[email protected]> Sat, 7 May 2022 10:45:49 -0400

Newsgroups	dev.linux.lists.printing-architecture
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

Till,

> On May 7, 2022, at 10:07 AM, Till Kamppeter <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> On 07/05/2022 15:09, Michael Sweet wrote:
>> Till,
>>> On May 7, 2022, at 3:05 AM, Till Kamppeter <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> ...
>>>>> Which sufficiently free PDF interpreter will you put at MuPDF's place?
>>>> Xpdf/Popper are GPL2, which fit the bill.
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> So GPL2 is OK and AGPL of Ghostscript/Artifex not? Why?
>> The GPL2 terms still allow companies, as well as individuals, to use and combine software freely.
>> 
> 
> Does the GPL2 not require them to then publish the source code of the combined software?

Only if the software is linked together as a single executable.

>> The AGPL terms are specifically written to prohibit combining of software without either providing the combined software under the GPL/AGPL or seeking alternative licensing from the developer. Unfortunately, what defines a combined work is somewhat ambiguous, so one could argue that making use of non-free Wi-Fi firmware on a system that accepts print jobs over Wi-Fi violates the AGPL of Ghostscript.  I doubt that Artifex would push for such a legal interpretation, but they've chosen the AGPL and do license Ghostscript commercially.
> 
> OK, they want to sell their licenses, so for the users who want to use cups-filters in IoT, printers, ... it is better to use GPL2-ed Poppler then.
> 
> So I will continue supporting both Poppler and Ghostscript. Poppler as the choice for embedded/IoT and Ghostscript as the choice for the Linux distributions.

Honestly, using it in a Linux distribution has the same risks since you are deploying cloud services (SaaS, etc.) using those distributions.  But that's far outside the scope of this group here and as long as it is possible to build without Ghostscript I am happy.

________________________
Michael Sweet

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