Lewis Jardine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Brian Thomas Sniffen wrote: > >> Combining X+Y in the way that you have described is anything but >> mechanical: it is a task which typically takes a skilled programmer a >> great amount of time and thought. Different programmers might do it >> in different ways. I'm not referring here to the work done by ld, but >> to the process of building a new program which has libfoo as a >> component. >> Additionally, the program ultimately delivered to the user isn't X >> with some minor bits of Y. It contains big chunks of Y -- one per >> function used, at least -- directly copied. Just being in a different >> memory space isn't enough to change the relationship between the >> creative parts of the works. The program vim encompasses a copy of >> libc. >> -Brian >> > What about the case where there's a common ABI, such as Java written > against Sun's standard API, then compiled into Java Bytecode? > > In this case, writing against Y is creative, but when the end-user > runs the program, is Java's run-time-linking creative or mechanical?
What Java's doing is mechanical. But what Debian *instructed* it to do, by shipping Y and the Java run-time together such that when you ask for Y to be installed, you get Y and the JVM... that's clearly creative. > Does this change when the program could also be linked with A, W, or > Z, all of which implement the same ABI? No. But it does matter which one Debian ships it with. > Does this change if there's no way to tell which of A, W, Y or Z X was > originally written against? The author's intent matters. If he writes against X, and Debian ships with Z instead, then that is an artistic choice on the Project's part. So if the author's intent isn't obvious, but it *could* be in the set of legitimate intents, I don't see a problem. > Does this change if the program is aggregated with W and Z, but not Y? You've now lost me in letters, and I don't understand this question. But the rest of these caused me to clarify my thinking on the matter, and to realize that there's always a person in the system who's imagining a combined work on an end-user system and taking action to put it there. This might be the original author, Debian or some other distributor, or the end-user. If it's anyone but the end-user, then that combined work is being distributed. -Brian -- Brian Sniffen [EMAIL PROTECTED]
