I am writing a piece of software that I want to license as BSD. I am
using Perl, which is licensed under both the GPL and its own Artistic
License.
According to the GNU website (
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#IfInterpreterIsGPL ) my program
will be considered a derivative work if "the interpreter is extended to
provide 'bindings' to other facilities". As far as I know, Perl modules
do not fall under that category since they do not change the interpreter
in any way.
What concerns me is a later part of the article that reads "if you
choose to use GPL'd Perl modules or Java classes in your program, you
must release the program in a GPL-compatible way". This makes sense for
the 3rd modules found on CPAN and other websites, but what about the
modules included with Perl? Could a statement as simple as "use Carp"
force my program to be licensed under the GPL?
Thanks for your help.
-Alex Hanson
