Re: Licensing issues...
Neal Richter <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.web.htdig.devel,gmane.linux.debian.devel.general |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
> Here's my set of questions: > > 2) Can I reasonably argue that htdig is gpl (or lgpl) if its linked > against a 3 or a 4 cloause BSD license? - htdig .3.1.6 builds static > libraries (.a) it links against. Sure you can! Note that although the Free Software Foundation may say that a 4-clause BSD license is incompatible with the GPL (and they do)..... that opinion only applies to code that the FSF holds the copyright for. As a matter of copyright law, any copyright holder that licenses their code under the GPL is free to interpret the GPL themselves. And if that person/group decides that a 4-clause BSD license is OK to include in THEIR code... then the FSF's opinion on license compatibility is irrelevant legally. Note that I intend no disrespect for any FSF people on this list! This is just basic copyright law. A third party can't dictate how a copyright holder interprets any license to it's own code. Here's where it gets interesting: Debian could, by the rights given to you by HtDig's use of the GPL (for 3.1.x and earlier), decide independently that a 4-clause BDB license isn't OK.... but again.. that doesn't affect us (HtDig) ... it just makes your head hurt! Hey FSF people: Why don't you upgrade your version of HtDig on fsf.org!!?? Thanks! Neal Richter Knowledgebase Developer RightNow Technologies, Inc. Customer Service for Every Web Site Office: 406-522-1485 ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by BEA Weblogic Workshop FREE Java Enterprise J2EE developer tools! Get your free copy of BEA WebLogic Workshop 8.1 today. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=4721&alloc_id=10040&op=click _______________________________________________ ht://Dig Developer mailing list: [email protected] List information (subscribe/unsubscribe, etc.) https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/htdig-dev