Re: Eclipse 3.0 Running ILLEGALY on Kaffe
Brian Thomas Sniffen writes:
> Raul Miller <moth@debian.org> writes:
>
> > On Tue, Jan 18, 2005 at 07:43:08PM -0500, Walter Landry wrote:
> >> But none in Debian main. People seem to be missing the point, so I
> >> will repeat: I am not saying that Eclipse is not distributable, just
> >> that it can't go into main.
> >
> > That's easy to say. It's much harder to back up.
> >
> > The distinction between main and not-main is purely a DFSG issue. The GPL
> > doesn't care about this distinction at all.
>
> Not true. The GPL prohibits distributing bundled copies of GPL'd and
> GPL-incompatible works, if they are more tightly coupled than mere
> aggregation. That is, the Debian OS is a work. It contains copies of
> Kaffe and Eclipse. They are interdependent, more closely related
> than, say, Eclipse and isync. Thus, they must both be distributed
> under the terms of the GPL.
Why? As you say, the Debian OS is a work, and it is designed to
coordinate between its various components in a more useful fashion
than if the component works had been merely aggregated. If your
interpretation of "mere aggregation" is correct, that means *all* of
Debian must be GPL-compatible.
But perhaps the GPL does not say what you claim.
>From section 0:
The "Program", below, refers to any such program or work, and a
"work based on the Program" means either the Program or any
derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work
containing the Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with
modifications and/or translated into another language.
>From section 2:
In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the
Program with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a
volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other
work under the scope of this License.
As has been settled on this list, Eclipse is not a derivative of Kaffe
and does not contain any copyright-protected portion of Kaffe. It is
possible to claim that "Eclipse+Kaffe" is a work based on Kaffe, but
by the same argument, "Debian" is a work based on Kaffe, and the
rational interpretation is that both cases are mere aggregation.
Michael Poole
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