Re: Eclipse 3.0 Running ILLEGALY on Kaffe

[Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com>]

Brian Sniffen wrote:
>
>Ignore the GPL FAQ for a minute and look at the GPL's 2b:
>
>    b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in
>    whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any
>    part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third
>    parties under the terms of this License.
>
>The Debian OS contains Kaffe.  So the Debian OS as a whole must be
>licensed under the terms of the GPL.  There are two exceptions to
>this:
>
>First, there's a separation exception:
>
>  If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the
>  Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate
>  works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply
>  to those sections when you distribute them as separate works.
>
>This means that it's fine for Kaffe and Eclipse to be distributed
>separately.  But it's not OK to throw them both on a CD and label it
>"Debian OS", if running eclipse loads a program made out of copies of
>Kaffe and Eclipse.

That's some strong crack you've been smoking Brian; I'd give it a rest
for a while. Your interpretation of how applications, libraries and
the kernel live together is *special*.

-- 
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK.                                steve@einval.com
"Because heaters aren't purple!" -- Catherine Pitt