Re: Debian based GNU/Solaris: pilot program

[Michael Poole <mdpoole@troilus.org>]

Thomas Bushnell BSG writes:

> Michael Poole <mdpoole@troilus.org> writes:
>
>> The first says that it does not apply to works derived from the GPLed
>> work -- but the C library (and its interfaces) are not derived works
>> of an application that uses them.  The C library header files are also
>> in no way part of the preferred form for making modifications to the
>> GPLed work.
>
> The latter may be correct, but is irrelevant to section 3.  Section
> three does not limit its scope to that, but *explicitly* mentions such
> header files.  Distributing them is a condition of distributing the
> binary.

Section 3 requires that you distribute the source code for a work (or,
in the non-DFSG-case, a written offer to provide the source code).
"Source code" is defined to be the preferred form of the work for
making modifications.  For applications -- which is the case in
question -- that preferred form does not include system header files,
therefore the system header files are not part of the application's
source code.

Treating system headers as part of the source code means we would be
awash in GPL violations, since almost nobody includes all the
necessary system header files with their application's source code.
Looking at the system header files as a "major component[] of the
operating system", per the end of section 3, is a red herring.

Michael Poole