In article <[email protected]>, Chris Ahlstrom <[email protected]> wrote:
> After takin' a swig o' grog, Tim Smith belched out > this bit o' wisdom: > > > In article <[email protected]>, > > Chris Ahlstrom <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > >> Nobody can honestly not understand the main meanings of the GPL. > > > > Is it OK under GPL to release a plug-in for a GPL program, if the plugin > > is under a license that is not compatible with GPL? > > > > Is it OK under GPL to release a GPL plug-in for a program that is under > > a license that is not compatible with GPL? E.g., could you release a > > GPL plug-in for Word? > > Jesus, you're as dense as Erik. What part of "corner cases" and "main > meaning" did you not understand? ... > Jesus, you're as dense as Erik. What part of "corner cases" and "main > meaning" did you not understand? > > And, in fact, you're probably taking it beyond legal considerations, into > the realm of a Free-software philosopher's feelings about ethics. > > The fact is that honest people have found the GPL very straightforward and > useful, hence its popularity. IBM legal eagles don't seem to mind it, even > if Microsoft found a way to break the spirit, if not the letter, of GPL 2. What you call "corner cases" are cases that have arisen frequently in the real world, and have been the source of much argument on such places as the Linux kernel mailing list. GNOME arose from the controversy over one of these "corner cases". Free, secure email was delayed over one of these "corner cases". The vast majority of Linux-based cell phones fall into one of these "corner cases", and are violating GPL, according to the interpretation of GPL at fsf.org. A corner case is (from Wikipedia): A corner case (or pathological case) is a problem or situation that occurs only outside of normal operating parameters specifically one that manifests itself when multiple environmental variables or conditions are simultaneously at extreme levels, even though each parameter is within the specified range for that parameter. If the "main meanings" of the GPL are so clear, how come so many people keep hitting these corner cases? Corner cases are supposed to be rare and hard to hit--not commonly run into like they are with GPL. -- --Tim Smith _______________________________________________ gnu-misc-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss
