On Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 5:12 PM, Graeme Gill <grae...@argyllcms.com> wrote:
> What counts > is dependence. I think all of your arguments are wrong, but on this point you may be right. I didn't realize that the GIMP is GPLv3 now, which is a very different license. GPLv3 is very fuzzy about linking. The appropriate FAQ then is this: ----- The difference between this [communicating at arm's length] 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. ----- Section 5 of the GPLv3 states only: ----- A compilation of a covered work with other separate and independent works, which are not by their nature extensions of the covered work, and which are not combined with it such as to form a larger program, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an “aggregate” [...] ----- So our legal situation appears to be "not an extension of the work and not combined to make a larger program" -- the significance of this being under 'Section 5: Modified Source' instead of 'Section 4: Verbatim Copies' is not entirely clear to me. However, the GIMP LICENSE file states: --- * If you create a program which invokes (or provides) methods within (or for) the GPL GIMP application core through the medium of libgimp or another implementation of the 'procedural database' (pdb) serial protocol, then the GIMP developers' position is that this is a 'mere aggregation' of the program invoking the method and the program implementing the method as per section 2 of the GNU General Public License. --- This does not talk about running the GIMP from the command line specifically but does state that you can call into the GIMP core via libgimp or any other PDB interface and that is considered by the GIMP team as a 'mere aggregation'. Whether the command line is considered an 'implementation of the PDB' is not explicitly stated. *** (Sven, Mitch) *** This LICENSE text should probably be updated as 'Section 2' of GPLv3 doesn't talk about aggregations - it's been moved into section 5. It might also be useful to address this issue directly as the GPLv2 is generally well understood to allow command line usage as an 'aggregation', but GPLv3 seems to muddy this distinction. NAL, Chris _______________________________________________ Gimp-developer mailing list Gimp-developer@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer
