On 2/5/06, Walter Landry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Quoting Walter Landry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > > > This is tricky. The relevant section in the GPL is > > > > > > But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which > > > is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must > > > be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other > > > licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each and every > > > part regardless of who wrote it. > > > > > > So, is the library part of the "whole"? If the company does not > > > distribute the BSD licensed library on the machine, then it is fairly > > > clear that the proprietary library is part of the whole. However, if > > > the BSD library is also included, then it becomes unclear. I could > > > see it going either way, depending on the judge and lawyers. > > > > > > This is what you call lawyerbait. > > > > Thanks for your reply, just a clarification. > > > > The section of the GPL you posted above is from section 2 which covers > > distribution of modified GPL'ed works. > > > > In this case the GPL binary being distriuted is from unmodified source > > code, all the modifications are in the GPL incompatible library. > > The GPL apps dont need to be modified as the GPL incompatible library > > is a drop in replacment for the existing BSD license that the GPL app > > was built against. > > > > So i assume now that they are distributing the GPL app under clause 1, > > that they can distribute the unmodified GPL binary and GPL incompatible > > library together, and are only required to make source available for the > > GPL'ed application, not the GPL incompatible library. > > Distributing object code falls under clause 3, which references clause > 2. Clause 2 talks about "modified work as a whole" which even > includes parts which "can be reasonably considered independent and > separate works in themselves". So whether the GPL'd parts are > modified does not actually matter.
Hey bug1, and it doesn't mean that by refraining from distributing GPL'd object code (distribute GPL'd source code only) you can escape copyleft -- it's impossible to escape copyleft in the land of true GNUtians. regards, alexander.