Re: GPL-licensed packages with depend-chain to OpenSSL
Greetings Debian-legal, (I've just started subscribing to this list.)
On Sat, 4 Sep 2004 13:42:21 -0700, Steve Langasek <vorlon@debian.org> wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 04, 2004 at 04:56:00PM +0200, Claus Färber wrote:
> > If we follow this interpretation, this means that you can't distribute
> > an closed source OS with GPL tools. IMO, this was not the intention of
> > the GPL authors.
>
> Of course it was. The GPL is about advancing the cause of a wholly free
> operating system; giving free operating systems a competitive advantage
> over non-free operating systems that happen to provide free tools is
> precisely in line with the goals of the framers.
>
> And while you're free to doubt that this was the intent, this is
> nevertheless what the letter of the license encodes.
Caveat, mere aggregation:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#MereAggregation
What is the difference between "mere aggregation" and "combining two
modules into one program"?
Mere aggregation of two programs means putting them side by side on
the same CD-ROM or hard disk. We use this term in the case where they
are separate programs, not parts of a single program. In this case, if
one of the programs is covered by the GPL, it has no effect on the
other program.
[...]
--
Joseph Lorenzo Hall
UC Berkeley, SIMS PhD Student
http://pobox.com/~joehall/
blog: http://pobox.com/~joehall/nqb2/
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