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Re: GPL scripts with a GPL-incompatible interpreter



On Fri, Dec 13, 2002 at 11:35:57AM -0800, Walter Landry wrote:

> > My concern is not with bindings (most PHP *bindings* seem to be
> > GPL-compatible), but with the interpreter itself; I don't see anything in
> > the GPL that states unequivocally that distributing a GPL script together
> > with a GPL-incompatible interpreter is acceptable.

> You seem to be worrying about distributing GPL'd applications under
> section 3 of the GPL.  But that is only for "object code or executable
> form".  Debian is distributing it under section 2.  Furthermore, the
> thing that Debian distributes doesn't have any parts of anything else
> in it.  This is different from compiled C code, which has parts of the
> compiler, libc, and other libraries.  So Debian doesn't have to worry
> about compatibility.

So you believe that we only need to comply with section 2 of the GPL in
order to distribute these scripts, even though the script is an
"executable form" per se?  If this is sufficient, that's fine with me;
I just don't see how it's invalid to say that a script, being both source
and executable, must comply with both sections 2 and 3, not just section
2.  Certainly it's *easier* to be able to ignore section 3, it just seems
arbitrary to me.

-- 
Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer

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