Paladin of the Pegasos
Posts: 1193 from 2003/2/24
From: Helsinki, Finland
@Andreas_Wolf
Quote:
So GPL wouldn't have blocked a release?
Why ask BSzili? It's GNU people who wrote the license and a rather nice FAQ for it, which has
this to say about creating GPL-based plugins for non-GPL-compatible programs:
Quote:
Can I apply the GPL when writing a plug-in for a non-free program?
If the program uses fork and exec to invoke plug-ins, then the plug-ins are separate programs, so the license for the main program makes no requirements for them. So you can use the GPL for a plug-in, and there are no special requirements.
If the program dynamically links plug-ins, and they make function calls to each other and share data structures, we believe they form a single program, which must be treated as an extension of both the main program and the plug-ins. This means that combination of the GPL-covered plug-in with the non-free main program would violate the GPL. However, you can resolve that legal problem by adding an exception to your plug-in's license, giving permission to link it with the non-free main program.
I'd assume ANR plugins wouldn't count as "separate programs" in the defined way.
And as we're on the subject, I assume
this would cover Reggae decoders:
Quote:
Can I link a GPL program with a proprietary system library?
Both versions of the GPL have an exception to their copyleft, commonly called the system library exception. If the GPL-incompatible libraries you want to use meet the criteria for a system library, then you don't have to do anything special to use them; the requirement to distribute source code for the whole program does not include those libraries, even if you distribute a linked executable containing them.
(Damn, I almost feel like a lawyer now...)
And I never said GPL would "block" it, Such usecase basically needs to either:
1)License to be not-really-GPL instead or
2)Developer to ingore GPL
As explained before.
First is definitely a special case. Second one, right or wrong? You decide.
Of course should have added to list:
3)Plugin as a separate program (as defined by GPL license)