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Re: Using a script licensed under GPL in an application licensed under a
From: |
observatory |
Subject: |
Re: Using a script licensed under GPL in an application licensed under a license that's not compatible with GPL |
Date: |
14 Dec 2006 15:48:30 -0800 |
User-agent: |
G2/1.0 |
Suppose I want to err on the safe side, let's consider for a while that
what I asked before is not allowed.
Does it seem less questionable (or more clearly allowed) for me to
prepare a zip file containing GPL'ed script files and put it as a
separate download on my site (telling the users to unzip this file in a
certain directory of my app) ? The GPL'ed script files will be
unmodified (containing the license and all the original code) - but the
file and directory structure may not be as in the original
distribution.
Thanks,
Andrei
Stefaan A Eeckels wrote:
> On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 18:03:37 +0100 (CET)
> "Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@gnu.org> wrote:
>
> > > My application consists of a collection of scripts (full source
> > > distributed) licensed under a license that I'll call A. I want
> > > to distribute with my application, the source version of a script
> > > licensed under GPL. This script (source) will be imported and
> > > used at runtime by my application.
> > >
> > > Is this allowed when license A is not compatible with GPL ?
> >
> > Yes. Your scripts are not based on or derived from that script, so
> > it cannot have an influence on the copyright status of your
> > original work. It's what is called "mere aggregation" in the GPL.
> >
> > This is completely wrong. The source code is not merly aggregated, it
> > is actually imported by the program. And thus constitutes a deriviate
> > work. It is exactly the same situation with linking a binary.
> >
> > It would be a different situation if it was a program that would
> > execute the GPL script.
>
> In which case the result of this process on the computer where it is
> running would be a derivative (not deriviate - you must be thinking of
> "opiate" :) work of both scripts.
>
> The scripts of the OP are written by the OP, and contain no code of the
> GPLed script. They cannot be a derivative work of the GPLed script.
> They use the functionality of the script, just as they use the
> functionality of the script interpreter that is used to run them. A
> bash script is not a derivative work of bash. A script that sources or
> calls another script is not a derivative work of that script.
>
> Where I can have some (but not much) sympathy for the claim that a
> compiled program that is dynamically linked to a library should be
> considered a derivative work (a functionally identical, but statically
> linked program would contain material from the library), the idea that
> "include" type statements create derivative works is asinine.
>
> It is especially asinine because it makes every source program a
> derivative work of the OS or at least the libraries it uses. If this
> type of reference is recognised as creating a derivative work, it
> becomes impossible to write a program, because the copyright statutes
> forbid the preparation of derivative works without the consent of the
> copyright holder.
>
> If writing ". /foo/bar" in a shell script makes the _source_ code of the
> shell script a derivative work of /foo/bar, programming essentially
> becomes impossible, because then you cannot write those 10 characters
> without the permission of the author of /foo/bar.
>
> --
> Stefaan A Eeckels
> --
> When the need is strong, there are those who will believe anything.
> -- Arnold Lobel
Re: Using a script licensed under GPL in an application licensed under a license that's not compatible with GPL, Stefaan A Eeckels, 2006/12/14
- Re: Using a script licensed under GPL in an application licensed under a license that's not compatible with GPL, Alfred M. Szmidt, 2006/12/14
- Message not available
- Message not available
- Re: Using a script licensed under GPL in an application licensed under a license that's not compatible with GPL, Stefaan A Eeckels, 2006/12/15
- Re: Using a script licensed under GPL in an application licensed under a license that's not compatible with GPL, David Kastrup, 2006/12/15
- Re: Using a script licensed under GPL in an application licensed under a license that's not compatible with GPL, Stefaan A Eeckels, 2006/12/15
- Re: Using a script licensed under GPL in an application licensed under a license that's not compatible with GPL, Alfred M. Szmidt, 2006/12/16
- Message not available
- Re: Using a script licensed under GPL in an application licensed under a license that's not compatible with GPL, Stefaan A Eeckels, 2006/12/16
- Re: Using a script licensed under GPL in an application licensedunder a license that's not compatible with GPL, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/12/16
- Re: Using a script licensed under GPL in an application licensed under a license that's not compatible with GPL, Alfred M. Szmidt, 2006/12/16
- Message not available
- Re: Using a script licensed under GPL in an application licensedunder a license that's not compatible with GPL, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/12/16
- Re: Using a script licensed under GPL in an application licensedunder a license that's not compatible with GPL, Alfred M. Szmidt, 2006/12/16