Re: DBDesigner4 and Kylix
(Cc'ed to OP because I'm unsure whether he is subbed to -legal)
Piotr Roszatycki writes:
> Hi.
>
> I'd like to package DBDesigner4 (See Bug#204475,
> http://www.fabforce.net/dbdesigner4/). It is very useful application written
> with Kylix.
>
> The application itself is on the GPL.
>
> It can be compiled with trial version of Borland Kylix. My question - is it
> enough for legal redistribution of compiled binaries?
Unless you have a "linking exception" from the DBDesigner4 upstream
authors, you are not allowed to distribute DBDesigner4 (in binary
form) linked against any GPL-incompatible library. Are the Kylix
libraries GPL-compatible -- for example, in terms of source code being
freely distributable and modifiable? If you cannot distribute those
libraries under the terms of the GPL, including the promise to provide
source, then you can only distribute DBDesigner4 as source code.
> It requires some additional libraries:
>
> * bplrtl.so.6.9.0 - the part of Kylix Open Edition
> * dbxres.en.1.0 - Borland Kylix dbExpress library from trial version of Kylix
> * libDbxSQLite.so.2.8.5 - dbExpress driver, probably originated
> http://www.bcp-software.nl/artikelen/sqlite.html
> * libdbxoodbc.so - dbExpress driver, probably originated
> http://open-dbexpress.sourceforge.net/
> * libqtintf-6.9.0-qt2.3.so - the part of Kylix Open Edition
> * libsqlmy23.so.1.0 - dbExpress driver from Borland Kylix dbExpress library
> * libsqlora.so.1.0 - dbExpress driver from Borland Kylix dbExpress library
>
> My question: is it legal to redistribute the Kylix libraries in binary form?
You would have to find out from Borland whether, and under what terms,
they allow redistribution of their libraries. These are orthogonal to
the GPL's requirements for DBDesigner4, and terms may be incompatible.
Michael Poole
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