Re: Plugins, libraries, licenses and Debian

[Henning Makholm <henning@makholm.net>]

Scripsit mru@kth.se (Måns Rullgård)

> I know that is how law works.  I just find it strange, that the GPL is
> so explicit on this point, and yet doesn't bother to clarify at all
> what a "derived work" might be, just to take an example.

It's on purpose: The GPL wants as much as possible to be derived
works.  Attempting to provide a definition would only have the
possible effect of making some jurisdictions interpret it more
narrowly than they would otherwise. The license cannot usefully define
"derived work" more inclusive than the jurisdiction's default
interpretation, becase works that are not derived in the default
interpretation can be distributed entirely without permission from the
GPL anyway.

-- 
Henning Makholm                            "What a hideous colour khaki is."