Hi all; This question doesn't directly relate to debian, but i hope you can help straighten me out with this.
I'm trying to understand licensing obligations in regard to GPL'ed binaries that link to GPL incompatible libraries. The current situation. A GPL'ed binary links to a shared library that is under the revised BSD license, the licenses are compatible so the distributer of unmodified GPL binaries must make the source to both projects available. The questionable situation A company distributes a GPL incompatible shared library that replaces the above mentioned BSD license library. A customer who downloads and installs this GPL incompatible library then has GPL'ed apps linked to GPL incompatible library. My understanding is that licences havent been violated by either the company or customer at this stage. However, what if the customer then wanted to sell the machine, or if the company wanted to sell machines with this incompatible binary and library preinstalled. Would this violation the GPL, or is it possible that the companies modifcations are "hiding" behind the BSD license library ? The confusing part for me is that the library is ABI compatible with a pre-existing compatible library, so I'm not sure when and by whom any problem occurs. GPL and GPL incompatible libraries are covered in the GNU-FAQ, however it didn't help me much. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#FSWithNFLibs http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLIncompatibleLibs Thanks Glenn -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
