Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: GPL compatibility

Author:William Crim
Posted:9/9/2000; 3:10:05 PM
Topic:Guido and Richard
Msg #:21083 (In response to 21035)
Prev/Next:21082 / 21084

A GPLed program can use any library, even those normally incompatible with the GPL, if they are part of the operating system. This is why you can have GPL apps link to Windows, Tru64, HPUX, Solaris LibCs and interfaces.

The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies the executable.

An OSA type runtime binding is not a problem. You write your program to use OSA(a system library/interface), not to use AppleScript, Frontier, or Python.

GPLed libraries ARE a bitch. Most people,except a few downright stupid ones(no moral judgement there :-), use the LGPL wich allows all the linking to it you desire for any App, and the GPL-ish portion only applies to the library code itself.

A Note to the other poster who was worried that GPL + BSD = GPL, that isn't precicely true. The only code under GPL is the code that was under GPL, and the code under BSD is under BSD still. However, since the GPLed code still has all its distribution restrictions, they are still in force for all the GPLed code. Let me make this clear, noone but the author can change the license on a piece of code. Nothing automatic can happen. The GPL happens to be the more restrictive of the two, and any distribution mode of the GPL is also acceptable to the BSD license.

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