On Thu, Nov 04, 1999 at 07:05:18AM +0800, Ian McKellar wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 02, 1999 at 08:19:41PM -0600, Andrew Kieschnick wrote:
> >
> > Gimp plug-ins are not linked into the calling program (they are run as
> > separate processes), so you can call them from any program you like
> > without violating the GPL.
>
> Perhaps, but that is open to interpretation. Corel is currently talking with
> the author of dpkg which is called as a program (through exec) from a non-GPL
> program. He sees this as a GPL violation.
>
> Ian
>
It can also be interpreted that using dlopen() to run GPL code
is not necessarily a violation. It boils down to the complexity
of the interaction between the plugin and the application. If
the application just tells the plugin to "load and start" then
it's not necessarily a violation even if you are loading it as a
shared library. At least that's the impression I got from RMS
when I asked him about that.
--
Shawn T. Amundson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Research and Development http://www.eventloop.com/
EventLoop, Inc. http://www.snorfle.net/
"The assumption that the universe looks the same in every
direction is clearly not true in reality." - Stephen Hawking
