Re: Bug#189164: libdbd-mysql-perl uses GPL lib, may be used by GPL-incompatible apps
Anthony DeRobertis <asd@suespammers.org> writes:
> On Friday, May 23, 2003, at 03:30 PM, Brian T. Sniffen wrote:
>>> Wait. Isn't dpkg under the GPL? Now everything on the entire system
>>> has to be under the GPL, because you can't even get it installed
>>> without
>>> the use of dpkg.
>>
>> I don't see how a program which merely happened to be installed using
>> dpkg can be said to be a derivative work of dpkg,
>
> Well, he is going a little far. But certainly the postinst, preinst,
> postrm, etc. files would have to be, as Debian distributes them in
> such a way to force dpkg to link them (by executing them). That would
> mean that everything used in those scripts has to be GPL-compatible.
I didn't say *all* execution was derivation. Execution is a form of
use, not covered by copyright. Creation with a certain target in mind
is derivation, though.
>> All of those --
>> TCP, HTTP, and DEB -- are generic formats.
>
> .deb isn't. There is, AFAIK, only one implementation.
At the very least, alien and dpkg deal with it; I believe there are
others.
> BTW: If the documentation in the policy manual makes it a standard,
> why doesn't the documentation in the GNU grep manpage, info page,
> etc. make it a standard, too?
They do -- but really, you'd rather be writing a derivative of a GPL
work than a GFDL work.
>> If he,
>> in his creation, is intentionally deriving creative ideas from the
>> author of a previous work, his work is derivative.
>
> The only thing I'm deriving from in, e.g., grep is, if anything:
> 1) its command line interface
> 2) its functionality
>
> In Lotus Development Corp. v. Borland International, Inc.,[0] the
> court held that a menu structure is method of operation. Methods of
> operation are, by statute, not copyrightable. To quote the decision:
>
> We think that "method of operation," as that term is used
> in 102(b), refers to the means by which a person operates
> something, whether it be a car, a food processor, or a
> computer.
>
> We hold that the Lotus menu command hierarchy is an
> uncopyrightable "method of operation." The Lotus menu
> command hierarchy provides the means by which users control
> and operate Lotus 1-2-3. .... Users must use the command
> terms to tell the computer what to do. Without the menu
> command hierarchy, users would not be able to access and
> control, or indeed make use of, Lotus 1-2-3's functional
> capabilities.
>
> The Lotus menu command hierarchy does not merely explain
> and present Lotus 1-2-3's functional capabilities to the
> user; it also serves as the method by which the program
> is operated and controlled.
<gibber>
OK. Well, that settles that argument: if this hasn't been reversed,
you're unambiguously correct. Thanks for pointing this out!
I wonder how this relates to library interfaces... certainly, those
are methods of operation as well.
-Brian
--
Brian T. Sniffen bts@alum.mit.edu
http://www.evenmere.org/~bts/
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