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Re: GPL traitor !


From: Hadron
Subject: Re: GPL traitor !
Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 17:56:59 +0200
User-agent: Gnus/5.110011 (No Gnus v0.11) Emacs/23.0.90 (gnu/linux)

Hyman Rosen <hyrosen@mail.com> writes:

> David Kastrup wrote:
>> That's "if", not "only if".  The problem is whether the combined work is
>> more than a mere aggregation of its part so that the original
>> constituents can no longer be told apart well enough to be licensed
>> differently.
>
> Let's speak of the source code to an extension, not the entire
> compiler consisting of the original compiler built with the new
> extension included. That extension is written from scratch, but
> is written to interoperate with the data structures of GCC. The
> source therefore contains many names which also appear in the
> GCC text, and likely many idiomatic uses of the data structures
> which appear similar to uses found in the GCC code.
>
> Such an extension, standing alone in source code, does not require
> permission from the GCC rights holders to be copied and distributed.
>
>>> Attempting to use copyright to prevent
>>> interoperability is considered by the courts to be a serious breach,
>> 
>> A serious breach of what?
>
> Use of copyright law. They don't allow it.
>
>> There is no clear and consistent case law with regard to linking stuff.
>> When in doubt, you will try to make sure that decisions leaning either
>> way will not put you too much in harm's way.
>
> Yes there is - video game system manufacturers tried and failed to use
> copyright law to require that independent game creators pay them for the
> right to create games on their systems.
>

Well, it would seem that the entire GPL issue is not so easy after
all...

BTW Alan, if it was you that wrote cc-mode for emacs : hats off to
you. It's excellent.

-- 
In view of all the deadly computer viruses that have been spreading
lately, Weekend Update would like to remind you: when you link up to
another computer, you’re linking up to every computer that that
computer has ever linked up to. — Dennis Miller


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