[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: question about proprietary libraries



Hi there.

On Sep 01 2010, Stephen Sinclair wrote:
> I don't have the ability to reverse engineer it and write my own
> drivers, but I'd still like users of this device to be able to make
> use of my software.

Right. You can dlopen the library, depending on the case. Your program
will still be Free, in the same sense that the Linux Kernel is Free.
You may want to check the license that you will eventually use: I think
that the GPL wouldn't cut it, but the LGPL might.

> Would such a library have difficulty getting accepted by Debian?

The library, yes. Your program? No, depending on how "dependent" the
program would be on that library. If the use of said devices is just a
minor part of the program's role, then it may be accepted into main,
without any problems.

OTOH, if it needs the library, then the most that you would be able to
do with your program would be to go into contrib.

Does this answer your question?



Regards,

-- 
Rogério Brito : rbrito@{ime.usp.br,gmail.com} : GPG key 4096R/BCFCAAAA
http://rb.doesntexist.org : Packages for LaTeX : algorithms.berlios.de
DebianQA: http://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=rbrito%40ime.usp.br


Reply to: