On Tue, 2007-07-03 at 12:34 -0700, Ethan Merritt wrote:
> Yes. That is a more complete statement of rights under the GPL.
> Please note, however, that "the source code" to which you are
> guaranteed access is the source code to the GPL-ed program itself,
> not to pieces of the operating environment it runs in.
And what do you mean by 'operating environment'? In my own
understanding, the CCP4 libraries are not an 'operating environment'.
Linux/Windows/OSX and compiler run-time libraries are operating
environments. If you distribute the program to Linux/Windows users, you
don't need to distribute Linux to them for your program to be useful.
But if you don't distribute CCP4 libraries with your program, the
program is not useful.
> This is an overstatement, or could be mis-read as an overstatement.
> You can distribute a mixture of GPL and non-GPL code together.
Yes you can distribute GPL programs as part of "COLLECTIVE" works which
also include non-GPL compatible programs. But the terms you apply over
the whole of the collective work must be compatible with the GPL. The
GPL says the following:
These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If
identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the
Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and
separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms,
do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as
SEPARATE WORKS. But when you distribute the same sections as
part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the
distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License,
whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire
whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote
it.
Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or
contest your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the
intent is to exercise the right to control the distribution of
derivative or collective works based on the Program.
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.
Sounds clear to me.
/Michel
