Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!uwm.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!news From: neal@cs.rochester.edu (Neal Gafter) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: Copyleft allows commercial linking with gnu libraries Message-ID: Date: 19 Oct 89 12:44:54 GMT Sender: news@cs.rochester.edu (Usenet news) Reply-To: (Neal M Gafter) Distribution: gnu Organization: University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14620 Lines: 37 It looks as if the general public license was carefully worded to allow linking with the unmodified gnu libraries while retaining the proprietary nature of the underlying program: > 2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of > it, and copy and distribute such modifications under the terms of Paragraph > 1 above, provided that you also do the following: So far so good, since linking with the libraries is not the same as modifying them. If a commercial user is not interested in modifying the libraries, the rest of section 2 of the license is not applicable. To clarify the point, the license goes on to state: > Mere aggregation of another independent work with the Program (or its > derivative) on a volume of storage or distribution medium does not bring > the other work under the scope of these terms. Linking with the libraries is a form of aggregation on a storage medium, so this paragraph seems to exclude the fully linked application from the license restriction. What of using header files that have inline code, or using a inlining option in the compiler? Here the question is less clear. Of course, creating a modified version of gcc would still clearly fall under this license. I suspect this was not the intent of the general public license. Perhaps I am in error in my interpretation of it, or perhaps the FSF will clarify this point in a future version. These opinions are my own and I am not a lawyer. -- Arpa: neal@cs.rochester.edu (Neal Gafter) UUCP: ...{allegra|decvax|rutgers|cornell|cmcl2|ames}!rochester!neal USnail: Department of Computer Science, U. of Rochester, N.Y. 14627 phone: (716) 275 - 1348 (office) or (716) 473 - 2361 (home)