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Re: Debian i386 freeze



Hello

I hope I am on the true way:

On Mon, Jul 20, 1998 at 10:04:41AM -0400, Stephen J. Carpenter wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 17, 1998 at 09:21:23PM +0100, Philip Hands wrote:
>
> I personally don't see the problem...because KDE itself is GPL...qt is
> not. 
> My question is this: can I wrire a progeam for Windows and GPL it?

If you write the program yourself, you can do it. In this case the GPL is only
for other people. For example Debian.
 
> I can GPL my code...but it needs to be linked against proprietary libraries..
> I certainly can't garauntee the source to M$ or Borland library
> sources...

You can:
get GPL-code and make a binary with the MS-libs. But not with extern libs
(like Borland-libs) The GPL say:

#   3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
# under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
# Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
# 
#     a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
#     source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections
#     1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
# 
#     b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
#     years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your
#     cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
#     machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
#     distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium
#     customarily used for software interchange; or,
# 
#     c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer
#     to distribute corresponding source code.  (This alternative is
#     allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you
#     received the program in object code or executable form with such
#     an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)
# 
# The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
# making modifications to it.  For an executable work, complete source
# code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any
# associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to
# control compilation and installation of the executable.  However, as a
# special exception, the source code distributed need not include
# anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary
# form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the
# operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component
# itself accompanies the executable.

See the last sentence. 

but you can all the time:
distribute the gpl-source-code. 

> I don't see how this is any different? Should we be warning the
> people who port Moonlight Creator to Windows that they may be
> breaking M$ or Borlands licence by distributing their binaries?

They don't breake the copyright from MS or Borland. They break the 
copyright vrom Moonlight Creator (if it under GPL).

> As far as I understand it...the program does not contain any actualy qt code...
> it is just linked against the library. It simply contains calls to qt code.
> anyone assuming that because a program is under one licence then
> the libraries it interfaces are also under that license.

you can't make a binary without non-gpl-code. This is the Problem!


Grisu

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