Re: GPL and command-line libraries
On Tue, Nov 02, 2004 at 11:00:54PM +0100, Josselin Mouette wrote:
> Le mardi 02 novembre 2004 à 21:53 +0100, Wesley W. Terpstra a écrit :
> > Mr. John Wontshare writes a streaming multicast client.
> > To deal with packet loss, he uses my error-correcting library.
> > Without my library, Mr. Wontshare's client can't work at all.
> > Mr. Wontshare's client represents only a small investment of effort and
> > without having had access to my library, he could have never written it.
> > He then distributes his client along with my library to end-users.
>
> If Mr Wontshare's client doesn't work without your software, this is
> what I call a derivative work. Whether it is linked to it using ELF or
> not is irrelevant.
What you call a derivative work is irrelevant; the only one that matters
is what copyright law calls a derivative work. Copyright law defines
derivative work, not licenses.
If I write a telnet daemon with a couple special escape codes, I can't say
"telnet clients that connect to this are derived works". That's just a false
statement, even if the client requires my special escape codes. There's no
free way to say "only free-software clients can connect to this telnet
daemon".
--
Glenn Maynard
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