GDBM is under GPL. This library must also be.

[shyouhei]

GDBM is under GPL, not under LGPL. Programs that link to GDBM must also be GPL.

This was not a problem before, because this library was a part of ruby/ruby.

• Ruby works well without gdbm. There were no need to make it always GPLed.
• At the beginning ruby was dual-licensed to GPL and Ruby's. Users of GDBM could choose GPL.

However now that it is split into a separate library. It is very hard for this library to exist without GDBM. It seems GPL pollution is inevitable now.

[ioquatix]

Does anyone use this code? Can we deprecate it and remove it in Ruby 3?

[shyouhei]

No need to deprecate. This library could live as a normal gem. Just removing it from the ruby distribution -- like we already did for rake etc. -- should just suffice, I think.

[ioquatix]

That's what I suggested, not including it in the core distribution - it can just be a gem.

[ioquatix]

Maybe update the license on the README and add a warning?

[hsbt]

@shyouhei I will change the current license to GPL. But I'm not sure what we chose GPL version?

[shyouhei]

GPL version 2 says:

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

The "any later version" clause covers version 3. I guess it's the safest for this library to choose GPL version 2.

[micwoj92]

Is it possible to release new version of this gem to have version with proper license on https://rubygems.org/gems/gdbm? Thanks

[hsbt]

@micwoj92 https://rubygems.org/gems/gdbm/versions/2.1.1