Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

john sinclair <[email protected]> · Wed, 19 Dec 2001 10:12:15 -0500 (EST)

So, I believe that the structure of edm complies with this idea.

> > ... The ordinary   
> > General Public License therefore permits such linking only if the   
> > entire combination fits its criteria of freedom. 

But, do you think that the license statement should be LGPL, BSD,
or perhaps something else? I do feel the GPL "linking" issue is subject
to some degree of interpretation.

John

On Tue, 18 Dec 2001, Andrew Johnson wrote:

> 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
> 

John Sinclair
[email protected]
Oak Ridge National Lab
865-576-6362   865-574-1268 (fax)

Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System