Byju Michael
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-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Suffield [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of
Andrew Suffield
Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 2:13 PM
To: debian-legal@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: SableVM/Kaffe pissing contest (Was: GPL and Copyright Law)
On Sun, Jan 16, 2005 at 11:18:30PM -0500, Michael Poole wrote:
> Andrew Suffield writes:
>
> > On Sun, Jan 16, 2005 at 08:14:32PM -0500, Michael Poole wrote:
> > > The rest of your post is either intentionally or incompetently
> > > misleading, since Java's idea of binary compatibility means that a
> > > compiled Eclipse package does not contain any copyrightable
portion of
> > > the class libraries that provide declarations to the compiler.
That
> > > is what determines whether the binary package is a derivative work
of
> > > the class library package.
> >
> > That's not entirely true. The binary package is a derivative work of
> > the class library package if:
> >
> > (a) it contains a literal creative part of the class library,
> > or a derivative of such a part
> >
> > or
> >
> > (b) it contains a literal creative part of the java source or a
> > derivative of such (pretty much a given or the compiler wouldn't
> > be much use), and the java source is a derivative of the class
> > library
>
> Does (b) refer to the use of features that are specific to one
> implementation (or at least one license)? Or do you mean something
> broader?
It means anything that a court would consider derivation. The stuff
about using features is just a convinient rule of thumb.
> > About the only thing I've seen that will do (a) is static linking in
> > an ELF object, or anything comparable. (b) is the one that we
normally
> > deal with in Debian.
> >
> > [Always remember: derivation is a transitive relation. If a is
derived
> > from b, and b is derived from c, then a is derived from c]
>
> This is not true. The parts that make A a derivative of B may be
> disjoint from the parts that make B a derivative of C. (When those
> works are virally licensed, the license is transitive.)
It's still true, you've just introduced an aliasing error. Set the
resolution to 'lines of code', not 'packages'.
--
.''`. ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield
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