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Re: Obnoxious ad-clause strikes again.



On Mon, Jul 29, 2002 at 11:27:34PM +0200, Sunnanvind Fenderson wrote:

> > Only the copyright holders of libreadline can grant a license exception
> > to link their code against GPL-incompatible code.  This likewise applies
> > to any other GPL code that they do not hold copyright for.

> But program X, licensed under GPL-with-exception can link to both
> jakarta and to GPL-ed stuff. Can it link to both at the same time? No?

It cannot link to both at the same time, as this would violate the
license of the other GPL code.

> > If their code can't be built against the free Java class
> > implementations, then it's definitely not possible for anyone to provide
> > binaries referencing other GPL code.  However, this is probably
> > secondary to the use of the GPL-incompatible Jakarta code.

> > Of course, they can allow others to do anything they want to allow with
> > /their/ software (including things not normally permitted under the GPL
> > if they grant a license exception).

> > ISTR that someone was working on a BSD-licensed reimplementation of
> > libreadline, btw.

> Yes, libeditline. But readline was only one of the examples. We'd
> really like this company to become a free software company, and one of
> the many selling points is that they would get access to a huge
> codebase of copylefted code.

Only if their code can be made to not depend on GPL-incompatible code.
This is one reason why the GPL has not been a big seller in the Java
community. :)

Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer

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