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Re: LGPL module linked with a GPL lib



On Mon, Jul 25, 2005 at 09:17:25AM -0500, Jeff Licquia wrote:
> On Mon, 2005-07-25 at 11:59 +0200, Loïc Minier wrote:
> >  GStreamer's build process builds separate binaries for the various
> >  plugins, these are then dlopened when requested.
> > 
> >  I would personnally think that installing only Debian's GStreamer
> >  packages that are linked to LGPL libraries doesn't make your GStreamer
> >  installation / packages GPL (that is the build process has nothing to
> >  do with the resulting packages).
> > 
> >  I would even thing that installing GStreamer plugins packages which
> >  link to GPL libraries don't make your installation nor your running
> >  GStreamer applications GPL (that is only dlopening() something GPL
> >  makes the whole program in memory GPL, while it remains in memory).
> 
> In a technical sense, you're right, in that each binary retains its
> separate copyright status.  Most people, however, are concerned about
> the restrictions effectively placed on them more than about the specific
> status of any particular binary.

I think it'd be a stretch to say that this prohibits proprietary
gstreamer plugins, but I doubt you could *include* them in a gstreamer
distribution. Third-party ones should still be okay.

> I see two ways in which this practically effects people using Debian.
> One, Debian could decide to package a plugin linking to a free but
> GPL-incompatible library, such as OpenSSL.  Two, others might want to
> add a few proprietary plugins on top of Debian and distribute the
> result.

So, I'd say that the former is probably prohibited and the latter is
probably allowed. Incorporating proprietary plugins into Debian is
somewhere around the borderline case, but I can't see that ever being
an issue.

> This seems worth mentioning in the copyright file, even if the license
> itself doesn't change.

Yeah, as far as the above goes.

-- 
  .''`.  ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield
 : :' :  http://www.debian.org/ |
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