Re: Plugins, libraries, licenses and Debian

[mru@kth.se (Måns Rullgård)]

Arnoud Engelfriet <galactus@stack.nl> writes:

>> Huh? Please, could someone please find the derivative works in the
>> following, in chronological order:
>> 
>>      1. I create a program, Anthony's Foo Editor, and add a plugin API.
>>         I release my program under the MIT X11 license.
>>      2. Weston Manning (a new maintiner) uploads Anthony's Foo Editor as
>>         afe.
>>      3. Marc Spencer creates a plugin, Frobit, under the OpenSSL license
>>      4. Weston Manning uploads afe-frobit
>>      5. Duncan Finch creates a plugin, Barnitz, under the GPL, version 2
>>      6. Weston Manning uploads afe-barnitz
>
> If I understand the FSF correctly, they claim that a package
> containing both 'afe' and the 'barnitz' plugin is a derivative
> work of the 'barnitz' plugin. Afe by itself of course isn't
> a derivative, but someone who bundles the two is creating
> something new based on two pre-existing works. 

I think it's more logical to call it an aggregation, as used in the
GPL.

> And since the FSF's logic is "linking at runtime means derivative
> work before runtime", it follows that the bundle is a derivative
> work of the plugin.

I'd personally like to see that logic put to test.  I don't have the
cash to ensure the outcome is what I want, though.

-- 
Måns Rullgård
mru@kth.se