At 3:52 PM -0800 on 11/12/99, Alain Farmer wrote:
>> Michael Fair: Using the GCC underlying architecture
>> will create licensing problems unless we reimplement
>
>> the whole shebang.
>
>> Alain: We must avoid licencing problems.
>> What are they in this case?
>
>Anthony: The GPL 'virus'. That is, we'd have to use
>the GPL.
>
>Alain: To be considered GPL we would merely have to
>insist that derivatives of OpenKard will be open
>source too, correct? It might not be a bad idea
>considering my MicroSloth Takeover argumentation, and
>it would also allow us to legitimately use GCC
>bytecodes.
Standalones would have to be GPL then, too. We've been over this at length.
Try the mail archive:
Everything about 'GPL':
<http://www.mail-archive.com/cgi-bin/htsearch?method=and&format=short&config=ope
ncard_metacard_com&restrict=&exclude=&words=GPL>
Everything about 'GPL' and 'standalone':
<http://www.mail-archive.com/cgi-bin/htsearch?config=opencard_metacard_com&restr
ict=&exclude=&words=GPL+standalone&method=and>
Everything about 'standalone':
<http://www.mail-archive.com/cgi-bin/htsearch?config=opencard_metacard_com&restr
ict=&exclude=&words=standalone&method=and>
In short: If we use the GPL as is, all standalones must be under the GPL.
If we add a clause exempting standalones, all I have to do to make it
closed-source is create a standalone.
The GPL would work, were it not for these problems.
>Alain: Although I have written about this often and
>recently, it bears recalling once more that I do NOT
>consider software created with the OpenKard authoring
>system to be derivative works, and thus would NOT be
>have to be open source (e.g. commercial interest ). If
>it were otherwise, all documents typed with MicroSoft
>Word would be the intellectual property of MicroSoft
>(for example).
Your analogy does not hold. MS Word documents do not contain any portion of
MS Word in them. The contain no intellectual property created by MicroSoft.
NuCard standalones, however, contain the entire NuCard engine -- quite a
bit of GPL-covered intellectual property.
NuCard stacks would be fine, except perhaps for any icons and resources
copied from NuCard -- but those can be exempted fairly easily and without
disasterous consequence.
