On Monday 22 January 2018 15:14:34 Rod Webster wrote: > Hi, > > Its been a long time but many years ago when working with Ghostscript > and commercial interfaces to it. The solution was (under their > license) to build an interface to the external library in such a way > if the external library/DLL wasn't there the software did not fail and > if another library with an identical interface to the published > interface was installed, the software would operate as normal. If the > library was not found, the software did not crash but it was not > functional. This required a bit more work on the part of the developer > as the DLL required to be loaded at runtime dynamically rather than > being linked statically at compile time. > > If such an approach was allowable under the LinuxCNC license, from the > users perspective all that he would need to do would be to install an > ethercat binary and ethercat protocol would be enabled as LinuxCNC's > code is totally compartmentalised from the commercial license. (kinda > like a software version of plugging in a Mesa Smart Serial device.) > > Rod Webster > +61 435 765 611 > Vehicle Modifications Network > www.vehiclemods.net.au > > On 23 January 2018 at 05:38, Darren Conway <darren.con...@xtra.co.nz> wrote: > > Hi > > > > Has anyone considered asking Bekhoff for their view on this issue? > > > > They might grant a GPL compatible license for LinuxCNC. > > > > Regards > > > > Darren Conway > > > > On 23.01.18 8:27 AM, Andy Pugh wrote: > >> On 22 Jan 2018, at 21:08, Nicklas Karlsson > >> <nicklas.karlsso...@gmail.com> > >> > >>> wrote: > >>> > >>> In source code I got from soem there is GNU license but somewhere > >>> I also found an exception, below so I am a little bit confused. > >> > >> I have always been confused by this too. > >> > >> The worry is that if we distribute anything EtherCAT with LinuxCNC > >> then we obligate anyone who uses it to also seek a Bekhoff license. > >> So that would make our distribution not-GPL > >> > >> I think that the Free Software Foundation has lawyers, but can’t > >> recall if we asked them about this. > >> > >> Then you get into the murky shadows that allow Wine to exist.
I can't seem to understand the problem. GPLv2 specifically prohibits any further restrictions. They have stated its GPLv2, so any further restrictions either remove it from GPLv2 coverage, or are illegal to apply to a GPLv2 license. I'd ask the question at the FSF. And how many of the court cases have been dropped once the plaintiff actually read the license vs how many times the plaintiff has been awarded the win against the GPLv2. That balance historically has been almost exclusively in favor of the GPLv2. Cheers, Gene Heskett -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot _______________________________________________ Emc-developers mailing list Emc-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers
