I have a question regarding GPL'd XULRunner apps (my specific case being Songbird, but I think it generally applies to any XULRunner app that uses the GPL)
My understanding of the GNU FAQ is that the NPAPI interface for loading browser plugins qualifies as "dynamic linking" (it's certainly more complex than just a fork()/exec() or an invocation of a `main`), and that thus any use of a non-GPL-compatible browser plugin (such as Adobe Flash) with a GPL'd XULRunner app (like Songbird) violates the GPL. (Note that this isn't/shouldn't be an issue for MPL'd XULRunner apps) So my question is regarding license exceptions. GStreamer applications suffer from this problem as well, where GPL'd apps convert GStreamer from LGPL up to GPL and thus can't be distributed alongside/bundled with non-GPL-compatible GStreamer plugins (which is a problem for any distributor who wants to build a *nix distribution, let's say, that has MP3 codecs and GStreamer and the GPL'd app). The GStreamer folks have typically used a license exception (detailed here http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/documentation/licensing.html) to get around this which basically boils down to: "This application is GPL'd but we explicitly allow the distribution of non-GPL-compatible GStreamer plugins to be distributed alongside this app" Can we do this with NPAPI plugins as well? I talked to Gerv about it, and he seemed to think that we couldn't since the XULRunner code is obviously copyrighted by the Mozilla contributors, and that we couldn't relicense it as GPL + exception. But the more I look at it, the more this seems analogous to the GStreamer situation with the key difference being that we take XULRunner under the GPL instead of LGPL. Is that the only difference? If we took XULRunner under the LGPL, then it seems like an identical situation to the GStreamer issue, and that we should be able to explicitly allow for the distribution of Songbird under the GPL alongside non-GPL-compatible NPAPI plugins such as Flash. Sorry for the long-winded post, I hope that made sense. Any clarification/guidance would be greatly appreciated. cheers, steve _______________________________________________ legal mailing list [email protected] https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/legal
