[H-GEN] GPL question

Paul Gearon pag at pisoftware.com
Mon Jan 5 20:14:21 EST 2004


Hi all,

This is practically guaranteed to start a flame war, but I'll ask anyway...

I've had an interest in licences recently, so I've been looking 
carefully at the GPL.

People have often told me that it is not possible to link non-GPL code 
to a library which has been licensed with the GPL.  Hence, many 
libraries are licensed with the LGPL instead.

Reading paragraph 2, clause 0 of the GPL:
"Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not 
covered by this License; they are outside its scope."

Now linking against a dynamic library involves reading it to determine 
the offsets of each symbol, but that's it.  It doesn't involve copying, 
distribution or modification of the library.  Sure, linking against a 
*static* library involves copying a portion of the library into the 
resulting binary, so I can see the problem there, but I can't see that 
there's an issue with dynamic libraries.

Do others agree that this is the case?  For the dissenters, what is your 
rationale?

Thanks.

-- 
Regards,
Paul Gearon

Software Engineer                Telephone:   +61 7 3876 2188
Plugged In Software              Fax:         +61 7 3876 4899
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Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum
immane mittam.
(Translation from latin: "I have a catapult. Give me all the money,
or I will fling an enormous rock at your head.")






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