Hello,
I have a question related to the GPL licensing.
I have a GPLed software written in php. It is distributed in source
form over the internet.
In this software, I want to draw some nice graphics. I found a flash
library (released in the binary form, a SWF file) that does the job
nicely. It is released under a license which says "Enterprise licence
(XXX Euros) ; For unlimited use in projects and applications you own
or develop"
I would like to use this non-free library in binary form in my GPL
software.
Considering the GPL FAQ
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#FSWithNFLibs
it looks like it is allowed for me to use this binary library.
But "If you do this, your program won't be fully usable in a free
environment. If your program depends on a non-free library to do a
certain job, it cannot do that job in the Free World." ; I don't
really understand the limitation here? What means "it cannot do that
job in the Free World"?
For information, the non-free library I plan to use works without
calling functions ; I actually give it a XML file, and it produces
output with this XML file.
Also, my software does not depends on the use of this library. It is
more like an "additional feature". I don't know if this detail can
help.
My questions are :
- Can I use the non-free library in my GPL software without problems,
that is my software can stay GPL and his library can stay non-free?
- What do I need to do with the non-free license holder, so that it is
allowed for me to use the license? Do I need a special statement from
him that he will put in his license? Do I need to pay the enterprise
license price?
- Do you have any other ideas/ things related to my problem?
I thought I understood well the GPL license, but this point is clearly
not clear in my head.
Thank you very much for your help!
Matthieu
_______________________________________________
gnu-misc-discuss mailing list
gnu-misc-discuss@gnu.org
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss