-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hello,
I'm writing to request a formal "ruling" on a specific case of mixing the GPL with a non-GPL program. The program in question is XXE. XXE is a document-oriented XML editor. The application is not distributed under the GPL. The "basic" version is free, the "professional" version is not, and I believe that the source code is available. Disclosure: Other than having been an XXE user for a year or so, and being on the XXE mailing list, I have no connection to the company that produces XXE. Consequently, please respect the CC of this email, as your response is of interest to XmlMind, the authors of XXE. The question is with respect to the spell checker. The first version of XXE used the ispell dictionaries, but none of the ispell program inself, to do spell checking. This was until the author of the German ispell dictionary contacted XmlMind and told them that since ispell was a GPL program and XXE was not, they couldn't use the data dictionaries with XXE. Consequently, XmlMind has generated their own dictionaries for three or four languages, and are not using the ispell dictionaries any longer. I've been reading through the GPL and the GPL FAQ, and I believe that this is a sufficiently gray area to justify a request for clarification. Specifically, I'm referring to the section on interpreter compatability: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#InterpreterIncompat, which states that: "If a programming language interpreter has a license that is incompatible with the GPL, can I run GPL-covered programs on it? When the interpreter just interprets a language, the answer is yes. The interpreted program, to the interpreter, is just data; the GPL doesn't restrict what tools you process the program with." To me, this is applicable to the situation with XXE. The dictionaries aren't programs, or source code. They are entirely data. The XXE spell checker, which is also not GPL code, merely interprets the data files. I also have a related hypothetical situation I'd like clarification on. Assume that any combination of XXE and ispell dictionaries is illegal. If XXE's language dictionary format is the same as the ispell dictionaries format, and a user copies an ispell dictionary into XXE's dictionary directory and XXE uses it, who is in violation of the GPL? I, and probably the other XXE users on the mailing list, would be grateful for any clarification. Thank you. - -- ### SER Deutsch|Esperanto|Francaise|Linux|Java|Ruby|Aikido|Dirigibles ### ### http://www.germane-software.com/~ser jabber.com:ser ICQ:83578737 ### ### GPG: http://www.germane-software.com/~ser/Security/ser_public.gpg ### -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (GNU/Linux) iD4DBQE+nUuyP0KxygnleI8RAi89AJ9f8WB5V86GRxDOOAFdw1fTshdBBwCXe5As Afxq7CVzc7ehGjKl571kbQ== =cpBp -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
