John Wells said: >> However - if you want to sell software under a closed licence you will >> need to be carefull to avoid 'linking' with gpl'd code. >> The problem is that 'linking' as used in the gpl seems to refer to C >> programming - and is an unclear term when refering to php.
I know I read this somewhere, but now I can't find a reference. The deal is that if you are accessing the capabilities of a GPLed program via a programmatic interface you are linking. If you are doing it by a system call, then you are not. > Yeah...that's really what I'm wondering. If I have my own code, but > make function calls and the like to script libraries licensed under the > GPL, does it mean my code will have to be GPL'd as well? In a word, yes. > It's not > dynamically linking binary code in. I've read the GPL faq and it's very > vague here. It considers interpreted programs "data", but doesn't > consider cases the that "data" is licensed under the GPL. That FAQ applies the interpreters, not interpreted programs. Which is to say that the fact that an interpreter is GPLed doesn't mean users can only interpret GPLed scripts with it. IOW, interpretation != linking. > Say, for instance, that I use a GPL'd library that provides a class > called myGPLClass. If I create instances of myGPLClass in my own > scripts, does that make my code in violation of the GPL? No. Use is not restricted in any way by the GPL. In fact, you needn't even /agree/ to the GPL in order to use GPLed software in any way you'd like, only to (re)distribute it. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
