----- Original Message -----
> From: Richard Stallman <r...@gnu.org>
> To: Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso <jord...@octave.org>
> Cc: octave-dev@lists.sourceforge.net; h...@octave.org; li...@juliensalort.org
> Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2012 6:46 AM
> Subject: Re: low level I/O (GPIB, USBTMC, VXI11)
[snip]
> The user, on his own initiative, is free to link GPL-covered code with
> nonfree code and use that privately. However, to modify a GPL-covered
> program so that it is meant to link to some non-free code, and
> distribute that, is not a private action. It is a way of combining
> the program with nonfree code. That violates the GPL.
[snip]
>
> --
> Dr Richard Stallman
> President, Free Software Foundation
> 51 Franklin St
> Boston MA 02110
> USA
> www.fsf.org www.gnu.org
> Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software.
> Use Ekiga or an ordinary phone call
>
> _______________________________________________
> Help-octave mailing list
> help-oct...@octave.org
> https://mailman.cae.wisc.edu/listinfo/help-octave
>
No, "It is a way of combining the program with nonfree code. That violates the
GPL", it does _not_violate GPL.
One of the greatest GPL features is that it does _not_ require the distributed
code to work.
So, the modified GPL code is to be distributed with free in FOSS sense
_non_-working code which quite incidentally happens to have the same interface
as the non-free code the GPL program is supposed to work with.
And then on site the GPL program is easily (re)linked with proprietary code
using all kinds of tools/approaches, the easiest of the being LD_PRELOAD trick
(e.g. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/426230/what-is-the-ld-preload-trick ).
Regards,
Sergei.
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