Re: Debian i386 freeze
On Fri, 17 Jul 1998, Raul Miller wrote:
> Dale Scheetz <dwarf@polaris.net> wrote:
> > Whether staticly linked or dynamicly linked, the QT copyright holder has
> > no interest in restricting distribution,
>
> This is equivalent to claiming that Qt is public domain. That's just
> not true.
Oh no! I didn't mean that they were uninterested in restricting
distribution of Qt. I meant they were uninterested in restricting a
product like KDE, as its broader distribution will sell more copies of Qt.
>
> > and I see nothing in the current licenses that suggests there is any
> > restriction on distributing binaries so produced. Their license speaks
> > to commercial development as requiring extra licensing.
>
> As has been said so many times before: The kde binaries require that
> you distribute the sources -- all the sources required by those binaries
> -- under terms where the sources can be modified and redistributed.
>
Yes, but this is a DFSG limitation, not a GPL limitation? That is, the
licensed source (that written by KDE) is fully available. You just can't
build it without a non-free library.
All I have said is that this is a legitimate application of the GPL, no
matter how much trouble it causes for the rest of us.
> This conflicts with the Qt license, which doesn't allow such distribution.
>
The Qt license can only cover the use of the Qt code.
> The KDE license covers this case by saying that it means that KDE binaries
> can't be distributed at all.
As the only way they see of appying the GPL to their code.
I think we all agree that it is a problem, even if we don't quite agree
exactly why.
>
> > > Yes. The source is free. The binary is not.
>
> > Says you. I certainly don't see it. You claim that the binary
> > "contains" proprietary portions of QT. I would claim that it does not.
> > Without the library installed it will not run. It is the library that
> > is "not free".
>
> Read the KDE license, please. What you're saying here is just plain
> irrelevant.
>
Possibly ;-)
Dwarf
--
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