Re: Question about licensing
From: Maury Markowitz <maury@OAAI.COM>
> I'm curious about using GPL'ed software in a supporting role for
> non-GLP software. Let's say YoyoDyne takes the Debian installer
> verbatum and uses it to install the next version of their propietary
> InternetDestructor 5.x. Is this legally acceptable?
Yes.
If you use a GPL program to manipulate some data (programs are data too), it
doesn't change the license of the data. That's a "No" answer to most of your
questions.
> If YoyoDyne wants to put a GUI wrapper around the dpkg, what then?
> Does making a GUI wrapper for the product become a case of
> "incorporating" it into a propietary system?
A non-GPL GUI wrapper around a GPL product could be considered a _derived_
product and could be a GPL violation.
> Even if the original code is completely unchanged?
It could still be considered an extension of the program, since the GUI has
no other purpose but to run that program.
> If the GUI in question is written in C
> for WinAPI's and that C code is then distriubted, does that mean it
> is no longer proprietary?
GPL-ed code can call Windows APIs, as long as those APIs are distributed as
a standard component of the operating system. You'd have use the GPL or a
compatible license for the GUI program (LGPL, X11 license, Public Domain).
> If there is non-free software used during the build of the GUI wrapper,
> what then?
If a library that doesn't have a license compatible with the GPL _and_ is not
a standard component of the operating system is used, you have a problem. You
don't have a GPL problem just because you used the MS C compiler, although you
would probably not get something in Debian's main if non-free tools were
_required_ to build a Debian component.
Thanks
Bruce
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