Re: reiser4 non-free?
I don't think my clarifications of what is a derivative work conflicted
with the GPL, they merely make it less vague as to what is a derivative
work. The notion that if something is linked determines whether it is
derivative has no basis in either copyright law or the GPL. rms,
correct me if you disagree.
Vagueness is not a benefit to a license, but in this aspect of the GPL
it is curable only in specific to a particular program being licensed.
It would be nice if the GPL explicitly allowed particular instances of
it to specify what are derivative works with some clarity. (Richard,
please consider that.....)
I can see that not very clever people who view the GPL as some sort of
holy writ will make more of an issue out of it than I want to deal
with. So, as a result reiser4 plugins will always be compiled in and
never dynamically loadable and the clarifications of what is or is not a
derivative work have been removed for now. Users and I will both lose
as a result, and maybe some needless lawsuit will result at some time in
the future that would have been avoided with clear definitions.
Hans
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