Import a library that imports a GPL library? [closed]

Question

So I am importing a library (reportlab), which is licensed BSD, but itself uses some libraries that are licensed GPL.

My question is, if I import reportlab into python - do I have to abide by BSD or GPL license?

Answer 1

IANAL. You have to abide by the licenses of all the packages you're using.

However, most would say if you only use the public API of those libraries, and they could theoretically be swapped out for other libraries implementing the same API, your code does not fall under the GPL, only any modifications you make to those libraries.

This is the point of view taken by the Linux kernel development community, for example.

Edit: After looking at the site of reportlab, it is clear that if you don't use the PyXML parser then you're only bound by the BSD license, as you're not using any GPL'd code.

Also, the question was raised in the comments whether your code is affected by the GPL if you don't distribute any GPL'd packages because the GPL primarily deals with modification of the code under the license and redistribution of that code. The answer is that if your code is a derivative work of the GPL'd code, you have to license your code under the GPL whether or not you're redistributing the original GPL'd code.