Oleg Goldshmidt wrote: > "Geoffrey S. Mendelson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > >> That would make anything ever written that uses a GPL'ed library a >> derivative work. >> > > Everything that links to a GPL'ed library is a derivative work - it is > explicit in GPL. > I can issue a statement that is clear and explicit, stating that everything that contains my name is mine and you need permission in order to use it. No chocolate spread for you, come back one year.
The only problem with this statement is that you don't need my permission in the first place, and therefor, the fact I refuse to give it to you does not matter to you. A statement by me does not change the laws of property, no matter how explicit and clear it is. It is the same for the GPL. The GPL is a copyright license. It only has legal standing where a work is "derived work" or a GPL licensed work under *copyright law*. No matter how clearly and explicitly the GPL defines what constitute derived work, it cannot preempt the law. If that law does not call linking "derived work" automatically, then the GPL's statement, similarly, cannot be considered binding. The law does not outright state whether linking is or isn't "derived work". Some corner cases exist that are easy. For example, if you statically link the library, then you are shipping a single file which is obviously derived work, as it contains the actual protected work in it. There are a few precedences that exist. The most important one is that a functional description of an interface is not copyrightable. In other words, you cannot claim that my program is derived from the docs describing the functions and constants of the library. The same goes for including header files from your project. See http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070425224227125 for some more. Personally, I would also take issue with the "over pipe" technique. The GPL does mention any difference between direct linking and other methods of communication, and there is a question of how much the FSF FAQ (which is where such a difference is mentioned) applies for non-GNU projects. I can tell you that, for my projects, I see no difference between the technical measures used to do the linking. Questions such as public stable documented interfaces are much more pertinent, in my view, than questions of linking vs. communicating. Shachar ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
