Re: GPL link against non-free in original work
Henning Makholm wrote:
> Peter S Galbraith <GalbraithP@dfo-mpo.gc.ca> writes:
>
> > So, Debian might be happy because they have clarified that
> > linking against XForms is okay. But, am I to conclude that
> > Debian doesn't agree with their argument that while they were
> > using the GPL without clarification they were still okay
> > license-wise because they were doing the linking in original
> > work?
>
> Careful here. The authors themselves were okay before. They don't need
> to stick to the restrictions they impose on others.
>
> Debian, however, would not have been okay to do what the author's did,
> because the authors had not permitted Debian to do it.
>
> > I mentioned this problem to the author earlier
> > and he didn't see a problem since he was doing the linking
> > upstream, so it was implied to be okay.
>
> Debian does its own linking and needs permission to do so.
> Think of build demons. Think of NMUs, security fixes...
Sorry. I meant to say that the author links it to XForms and
expects users to do so as well, since it's in the Makefile (and
it's logical).
But okay, I give up. I'll follow the rules. Joseph is correct
when he says you can't always expect laws to make sense.
Peter
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