Re: [Firebird-devel] Warning: readline is GPL - incompatible with MPL
[sent only to debian-legal. Comments are program-independant]
Steve Langasek wrote:
> Users do not violate the GPL: the GPL does not govern use of a program.
> But it would be illegal for Debian to *ship* a version of FireBird
> that uses libreadline.
On further research, http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#IfLibraryIsGPL
seems to imply that linking a program to a GPL library (even for personal
use) means the program must be GPL.
This seems like a contradiction.
>
> That is, if all you need are your private headers and stub library,
> that's fine -- as long as that's what FireBird uses by default when
> installed. If FireBird ships with a Depends: libreadlinex, then
> clearly we are linking against libreadline.
So would pseudocode like:
if ( lib = dl_load("libreadline") )
//Use libreadline code
else
//Use internal stub
lib = dl_load("libreadline_stubs");
be a way around this? Especially if the program only Suggests: libreadline?
--Joe
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