[Mono-list] Mono licence

[Miguel de Icaza]

Hello,

> AIUI, MS has patents which Mono relies upon which means that
> distribution under the GPL would not be allowed (which may explain the
> reluctance of both Fedora and Debian to include it in their distros) or
> is Novell in posession of documentation from MS which waives the patent
> problems (in which case, can someone please tell the various distros?)

You seem confused and you are mixing various concepts at the same time.

Every piece of software (including all GPL software) is likely to
infringe on a patent.  Whether the patent is valid, solid, enforceable
or used is a different matter.

Mono only uses the GPL for its compilers and some tools, the rest is
under other licenses.

People choose not to distribute Mono for various reasons, none of which
are completely consistent.  If they were consistent, they would not ship
half the software they are shipping today.

Miguel.