Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!rpi.edu!rodney From: rodney@picasso.ipl.rpi.edu (Rodney Peck II) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: Re: What is a requirement Message-ID: Date: 20 Dec 89 20:28:50 GMT References: <8912201209.AA03583@wheat-chex> Distribution: gnu Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Image Processing Lab, Troy NY Lines: 29 In-Reply-To: sja@sirius.hut.fi's message of 20 Dec 89 16:59:17 GMT >>>>> On 20 Dec 89 16:59:17 GMT, sja@sirius.hut.fi (Sakari Jalovaara) said: Tower> Wrong. If your program requires GNU source to be linked in, it's all Tower> covered by the GPL. Russ>If you don't use any of the advanced features of GNU's getopt such Russ>that it can be linked to any getopt, then it's not covered by the GPL. That's what I was tryingf to say. Just because you use the code in your own program doesn't mean you _have_ to give them that piece of code. You could just as well remove the gnu getopt and write your own that mimics the functionality. You should be very careful to not read and copy the work done by the FSF however. Personally, I think this is sort of left handed and opportunistic and I wouldn't do it, but that's me. Sakari> But *is* covered if it *does* use features specific to GNU getopt? No, that's part of the point. You can write code that performs the same actions if you want to. It's essentially up to you to do the work. But, obviously, I've been wrong before -- read the Manifesto and find out if code with a similar programming interface automatically falls under the copyleft. -- Rodney