On Wed, 2021-12-01 at 09:33 -0500, rsbec...@nexbridge.com wrote: > That is understood. Is this an official GNU Make policy because it is > not specified that way in GPL. Has the GNU Make team modified their > copy of the GPL license because it is not indicated as a modified > version?
I'm not sure what you're asking here. As Eli says, most GNU projects that provide the ability to load modules like this, have a similar type of restriction. I don't see how this goes against the GPL license or would require an extension or exception to the GPL license. You, as the user of the program, have received all your rights under the GPL. There's nothing in the GPL that says or implies that the implementation of a program licensed under the GPL, must allow anything at all to be loaded regardless of license. Note that the GPL only applies to distribution, it doesn't apply to use. Just creating and using a plugin yourself doesn't mean it has to also be provided to everyone under a GPL-compatible license. It's only if you distribute the plugin that the GPL comes into play. Whether this is actually legally enforceable is not something I am qualified to discuss... this is the way the GNU project wants plugins to be handled. If you want to understand more about the process and philosophy here, you can read about it in the GCC plugins section (GNU make uses the same thinking): https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gccint/Plugin-API.html https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/GCC_Plugins
