On Thu, Jan 03, 2002 at 11:21:19AM +0100, Bram Moolenaar wrote: > > Alright, I'll file this. Bram, you might want to check out any other > > libraries Vim optionally links agaist. (This is another, completely > > different reason to make your license GPL-compatible.) > > I don't think that is my task. Perhaps it's just a problem for you, > since you do the compiling.
If your license is GPL-incompatible, then linking it against a GPL library is illegal. Would you be liable for this if you never distributed any binaries linked against it? That's a question for the others; my suspicion would be yes. If the answer to that question is yes, then another one: is there any problem with distributing GPL-incompatible *source* that links against a GPL library? In other words, if the Debian vim packages are recompiled without gpm support, is Debian in the clear? > Anyway, I can't see how the GPL intentionally forbids compiling a > library with it. You can't link a GPL-incompatible program (closed source, or any that have more restrictions than the GPL) to a GPL-licensed program. I'm not sure of the reasoning; I think it's along the line of thought that you're reusing GPL code by linking a shared library just as much as you would be by copying the source and not modifying it; the only difference is the mechanism. (I'm not sure how it works when there's less restrictions; I suspect the extra GPL restrictions are inhereted, but I'm not sure.) > That wouldn't be "free". Opinion varies on this (in a sense, I agree), but that doesn't change what people can and can't do with the program. We can argue about why and should, but I believe this restriction is well-established. (In fact, I believe it's the reason for the existance of the LGPL.) You'll no sooner get a consensus on this then you will on the GNU/Linux debate. :) > No, I'm not in debian-legal. At least one message you were dropped from (he may have forwarded this to you): http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2002/debian-legal-200201/msg00037.html (Hell iteslf awakens when someone copies to Bran instead of Bram ...) -- Glenn Maynard
