Re: The draft Position statement on the GFDL
Raul Miller wrote:
> On Wed, May 12, 2004 at 08:55:21PM +0100, Henning Makholm wrote:
>> I really don't see where you are getting at. Can you explain in little
>> words and with lots of intermediate results why you think that a GCC
>> modified for you hypothetical environment would be non-distributable?
>
> Because it incorporates functionality implemented in proprietary code.
> [This would be functionality you're not legally allowed to reverse
> engineer.]
Either it
(1) incorporates the proprietary code. Here it is a derivative work of the
proprietary code. In this case, you need a license from the copyright
holder of the proprietary code in order to distribute. If you have an
appropriate one, you can distribute under the GPL. If not, you can't.
(2) doesn't incorporate the proprietary code, instead connecting to it at an
published, freely usable interface. Here it is not a derivative work of
the proprietary code. In this case, it's free and freely distributable,
but it depends on non-free software to function, so it's "contrib".
--
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
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