[ros-users] GPL-licensed .msg files

[Brian Gerkey]

On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 12:54 PM, Mrinal Kalakrishnan <mail at mrinal.net> wrote:
> Does anyone know the implications of a GPL-licensed .msg or .srv file?
> If I wrote code that uses these messages (through the generated C++
> code), does my code also need to be under the GPL? Or maybe, because
> the code generation process only reads the GPL-encumbered .msg file
> and outputs independent C++ code it's somehow free of the license?

Blaise answered earlier regarding the inclusion of GPL-licensed headers.

As the question of whether the headers produced from GPL-licensed .msg
files are indeed GPL-licensed, I would say that the answer is
probably, yes.  An item from the GPL FAQ
(http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLOutput) includes the
following advice:

"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."

	brian.