Re: Plugins, libraries, licenses and Debian

[mru@kth.se (Måns Rullgård)]

Jeremy Hankins <nowan@nowan.org> writes:

>>> If you want a simply answer, the answer is: "No (insert disclaimers
>>> here)" as others have pointed out.
>>
>> As someone said, writing is always allowed, it's distribution that's
>> restricted.
>
> True as far as the GPL is concerned, but not true generally.

Yes, but it was the GPL that was causing the problems.

>> There have been some indications that a source distribution is
>> allowed, even if a binary distribution is not.  Could someone
>> clarify?
>
> I must have missed the message that talked about this.  My understanding
> is that the only case this might apply is when the source isn't actually
> intended for compilation (e.g., it's in book form).

The argument is that the source code isn't derived from the library.
Names of functions are not normally covered by copyright.  If they
were, GnuTLS couldn't have an OpenSSL compatible interface.

-- 
Måns Rullgård
mru@kth.se