On Sun, 2008-10-12 at 16:25 +0200, Roberto A. Foglietta wrote: > 2008/10/12 Denys Vlasenko <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > On Wednesday 08 October 2008 10:24:32 pm Lin Xbasu wrote: > >> Hi, > >> > >> Can you please tell me, whether it is possible to get a license for the > >> busybox to distribute it as object code / executable without beeing forced > >> to publish the source code as GPL does? > > > > I think busybox had many contributors over the years, and it's virtually > > impossible to contact them all and convince every single one of them > > to agree on this. > > > > You have to comply with GPL v2. Which is not difficult and costs nothing. > > In case you want deliver your specific proprietary command line > executable and you would like to keep its size very small then you can > compile it linking against busybox library. Remember that GPL allow > only dynamic linking, static should enforce GPL redistributions terms > and make your application bigger.
Eh? The GPL does not allow dynamic linking against non-free code. Are you thinking of the LGPL? Any code that links against GPL code must comply with the GPL: The difference between this and “incorporating” the GPL-covered software is partly a matter of substance and partly form. The substantive part is this: if the two programs are combined so that they become effectively two parts of one program, then you can't treat them as two separate programs. So the GPL has to cover the whole thing. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLInProprietarySystem Dynamic linking (i.e. typical public shared libraries) share the same memory space as the program and effectively become part of the program, therefore contravening the GPL. That's the reason for the LGPL. So if the proprietary executable lists a GPL library in 'objdump -p' as NEEDED, the source code must be released under the GPL for the executable and the library. Are you confusing dynamic linking with dlopening for modules and plugins? Even with plugins, the application/library loading the plugins often uses GPL code from another library. -- Neil Williams ============= http://www.data-freedom.org/ http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/ http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/
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