Re: LGPL module linked with a GPL lib
I wrote:
> They're a sidetrack to be sure; but kind of an interesting sidetrack.
> His personal history and philosophy strike me as more reminiscent of
> Dominic de Guzman or Benedict of Nursia than any modern figure. In
> any case, I certainly intended no slur on RMS by that, nor on any
> participant in this discussion.
You know, it's funny; I make a comment like that, and a few hours
later I run across Nikolai Bezroukov's comment that "some of [RMS's]
recent letters look like they have been written by a medieval
theologian", and I feel dirty. Not because I meant a slur, because I
didn't; Dominic and Benedict seem to have been decent, even saintly,
men, and leaders of men and women, and comparisons to them are
complimentary in a way that, say, a parallel to Francis of Assisi
(nice to animals, may have composed a good prayer or two, but a
certified kook) wouldn't be. But as thick as my writing style is, I'm
sure it's hard to tell the difference between my cumulative critiques
and a real hatchet job like Bezroukov's.
And once in a while I go off half cocked (not with "economic
superiority of the free software system", which was a deliberate
re-framing of RMS's published philosophy, but with an apparently wrong
guess about which non-programming source of income keeps his boat
afloat), and I find myself wishing I'd left the whole topic alone.
But dammit, this is not a game, this is people's lives and
livelihoods. Using deception about the law to claim rights over other
people's work is wrong, no matter who is doing it. RMS may sincerely
believe that the GPL is a successful hack around contract law and the
limits courts have imposed on other software copyright holders; but I
don't see how a court could possibly agree with him. Where the money
comes from, and where it goes, do have some bearing on whether it's
proper to accept the FSF's unsubstantiated assertions on legal
matters; and I want to know the truth, and to see it known and acted
on by people whose influence over the free software ecosystem is
greater than mine.
- Michael
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