Of course another option here is to consider getting OpenVPN to play nice
with gnutls, though I am not familiary with the maturity of that piece of
software.
Does anyone else here consider this to be entirely the wrong way to go?
First off, the problem appears to be one that's present in all cases
where GPL-licensed software is linked with non-GPL-licensed software
(I'm lazy, and assuming OpenSSL is `BSD). The OpenSSL people are only
stating a commonly-overlooked problem that will eventually bite every
single one of us.
So, what do we do? We write an exeption in a GPL-licensed project's
software license? That only seems shady on the surface, like one's
trying to exempt oneself from someone else's licensing - -I'd like to do
that with MS. In fact, the only problem is that, soon, maintainers of
GPL-licensed projects will need to maintain an entire list of
exemptions, and it may eventually be larger than the GPL boilerplate -
no mean feat, but as time_t->oo ...
I think that this is another example of how the GPL1 license is really
not intended for a world that is not either entirely GPL or entirely
non-GPL. It's perhaps meant to eventually edge-out the non-GPL
licenses, something we'd normally consider a bit more difficult if it
weren't the much-loved GNU doing it. The motives are similar to any
other empire-builder (Oh yes, and please let us remora the name of your
operating system).
I would suggest, for our sanity and not for the sake of any freedom we
require to link with whatever projects we choose, that we do NOT
consider adding any more GPL-covered projects to this one. In case we
run into any more snags, the remaining GPL bits can be pulled more easily.
Is this an issue that should be Asked of Slashdot?
- bish
DISCLAIMERS:
This message is only half-formed, having been the product of a mere hour
of thought and discussion on the issue with co-workers, none of whom
were lawyers. It is neither logically complete nor sound.
I am biased. Normally I'm an annoying, opinionated, proselytizing
grouchy recluse, emerging from my cave only to yell "Dooooom" in a James
Earl Jones voice.
I work for a company that works with linux and tries to make a profit;
that's two distinct halves of a company that do not often mix due to
legal reasons. Ironically, many free vendors trying to make money on
'free' software employ full-time legal teams whose sole job is to
prevent the company running afoul of the GPL and other licenses; I'm
not a member of that part of my company, thankfully (IANAL).
Aaron Sethman wrote:
On Mon, 28 Apr 2003, Alberto Gonzalez Iniesta wrote:
Hi all,
Sorry for the huge forward, but everything needed to understand this
problem should be there :)
GPL software does not mix well with OpenSSL, and that's giving me some
headaches lately. As you me see in my mail to Markus (liblzo author) and
James (we all know who he is :) linking liblzo with OpenSSL may be a GPL
violation [1].
So this is a call for comments on this issue.
Can anybody reach Markus and comment him about this?
Should we switch to another compression library? In that case, which one
would be suitable? zlib?
Should we ignore this and let RMS jump on us? [2]
Well zlib could be suitable, considering that OpenVPN does implement some
reliable UDP stuff for SSL/TLS type streams to work correctly. Of course
it might be a performance hit. On the other hand, if you are linking it
yourself and not redistributing the binaries you are probably okay. This
means though that prebuilt binaries linked to liblzo could be a no-no.
Of course the slope gets slippery if OpenSSL is shipped with the OS by
default and is considered a 'system library'. In such case it might not
necessarly be a violation, otherwise linking GPL software on a system like
Solaris and distribution the resulting binaries would be forbidden as
well.
Of course another option here is to consider getting OpenVPN to play nice
with gnutls, though I am not familiary with the maturity of that piece of
software.
Regards,
Aaron
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