Michel Sanner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > A google search about GPL and dynamic linking came up with an equal > number of pages saying that dynamic linking of GPL > code into non GPL applications is allowed as it is the end user who > cretes the derived work, as pages saying the opposite ! So does anyone > know what to do about this ?
According to the FSF, it is not permitted under the GPL. Some other users have a differing opinion. The actual legality may eventually have to be decided by a court; right now no such decision exists. Of course, in the case where the GPL'd code's author is ok with what's being done, it's fine either way (i.e. at worst, the author's permission exists separately from the permissions granted by the GPL). In the other case, you're asking to what extent it's legal for the non-GPL author (typically a proprietary code developer) to thwart the wishes of the GPL'd code's author and do things not in the GPL spirit. Since proprietary code developers generally use the copyright system to avoid having their own wishes thwarted, they're not entitled to very much sympathy in their desires to construe the GPL to thwart the wishes of other authors. It's preferable to ask what the GPL spirit is and act that way, than to aggressively probe its exact legal boundaries. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
