Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

Andrew Johnson <[email protected]> · Tue, 18 Dec 2001 16:28:35 -0600

john sinclair wrote:
> 
> I thought you could take any piece of GPL code and do anything
> you want with it if you do not distribute it.

True, my point 3, but see below.

> Also, I thought I could write this code and distribute it as GPL:

As long as you don't give away binaries or include any code copied from a
GPL app you *might* be OK.  Anyone who creates an RPM or some other binary
distribution of such an application would definitely be breaking the terms
of the GPL, the EPICS license, or possibly both.

One question that nobody can answer (because the courts would probably
have to rule on this) is whether it's legal to actually load a program
that links together GPL and non-free software, because such a combination
involves the act of copying.  The GPL contains no explicit language about
this, but the LGPL does which indicates what the FSF think the answer is:

> When a program is linked with a library, whether statically or using
> a shared library, the combination of the two is legally speaking a
> combined work, a derivative of the original library. The ordinary
> General Public License therefore permits such linking only if the
> entire combination fits its criteria of freedom. The Lesser General
> Public License permits more lax criteria for linking other code with
> the library. 

- Andrew
-- 
Perfection is reached, not when there is no longer anything to add,
but when there is no longer anything to take away.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System