PostSharp

[andyk]

Hi,

I wrote a PostSharp plug-in, that makes dealing with INotifyPropertyChanged an entirely compile time affair. I just demoed it to other members of my team, and we would like to start using PostSharp and my new plugin to aid in developing a commercial product at the company I work for. It works like this:

[NotifyPropertyChanged]
public class Person : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public event PropertyChanged;
}

At compile time it injects some IL (ILWriter) into the setter: For entry there is an equality check (guard clause) When exiting, the PropertyChanged event gets fired.

This is different than the example shipped with PostSharp, as we don't want to use interface composition or anytype of reflection to achieve a guard clause.

My question is this: If we use this plug-in to modify our main app at compile time, will we have to release the app as GPL? The licensing page FAQ isn't clear on whether we would need an exemption or not. The application will not link to PostSharp.Core, but the plug-in will.

It sounds like the plug-in is automatically GPL by linking to PostSharp.Core. However, does any program that uses this plug-in require an exemption to be closedsource/commercial?

[gfraiteur]

No, transformed programs are never affected by the GPL license.

If you distribute the plug-in outside the company, it needs to be open source or you have to buy an exemption. That's all. No nonsense .

[andyk]

Awesome, and thanks!