Re: Using Debian as a base for a LiveCD together with non-free products.
Jenner Fusari wrote:
Jeff Licquia ha scritto:
From the free software side, there should be very few problems.
Linkage might be an issue. If the non-free app links to works
licensed under the GNU GPL, there's an exception that allows this *if
the two works are not distributed together*, which might make the app
legal normally but not on the Live CD.
Where I can find this exception on the GPL? I wasn't aware of such an
exception.
Section 3 of GPL v2, right below point c:
"However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not
include anything that is normally distributed (in either source or
binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of
the operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component
itself accompanies the executable."
But... how can Linspire (for example) build (and sell) a distribution
that feature both free and commercial software?
As far as I know, the proprietary software Linspire distributes does not
depend on libraries licensed under the GPL. Most libraries shipped in
Debian are licensed under the LGPL or some more permissive license, so
this is not unusual.
Maybe I have to ask for a written permission to make this live-cd to
someone in the Debian team? (who?)
We don't hold the copyright for most of the software in Debian. You
would need to identify the particular software you wanted to use,
determine who owns the copyright for that software, and ask them, should
there be a problem.
No, that's not my case. Got nothing to recompile. The commercial
software has only the following dependencies: libc6,
LGPL.
libX11-6,
XFree86 license (pre-4.4), MIT license, and some others, none of which
seem to have a GPL-style copyleft.
libasound2,
LGPL.
libstdc++6,
GPL, with an exception:
As a special exception, you may use this file as part of a free software
library without restriction. Specifically, if other files instantiate
templates or use macros or inline functions from this file, or you compile
this file and link it with other files to produce an executable, this
file does not by itself cause the resulting executable to be covered by
the GNU General Public License. This exception does not however
invalidate any other reasons why the executable file might be covered by
the GNU General Public License.
This seems to cover use of libstdc++6 by your proprietary app, although
again, remember that I'm not a lawyer.
libgcc1,
GPL, with a different exception:
In addition to the permissions in the GNU General Public License,
the Free Software Foundation gives you unlimited permission to
link the compiled version of this file into combinations with
other programs, and to distribute those combinations without any
restriction coming from the use of this file. (The General Public
License restrictions do apply in other respects; for example, they
cover modification of the file, and distribution when not linked
into a combine executable.)
Again, this seems to be OK to use in a proprietary app.
libxau6
The Open Group's usual permissive license.
and libxdmcp6.
Same as libxau6.
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