"Andrew C. Greenberg" werdna@mucow.com wrote:
On Tuesday, October 30, 2001, at 01:26 PM, goran.hultgren@bluefish.se wrote:
One thing I know is that LGPL allows linking with non-LGPL programs, but GPL does not. It's a good thing that GNU libc (the one that Linux uses) is LGPL, because if it was GPL it would be illegal to compile non-GNU C programs on Linux! It's unclear where Squeak images would fall here -- is loading Smalltalk code into Squeak "linking", or is it making a derivative of the base image? Blah, let's be happy we're not using one of these licenses and so don't have to decide. :)
The question on how the image works in this is very much open I guess.
Not open in practice, given RMS' construction of the GPL. GPL's interaction with a monolithic image is completely viral in his view.
Yes, but what about dynamically (=at startup time) "linking in" .pr or other ImageSegments, or for example loading a changeset of source? Loading a changeset at startup makes it more or less a pure interpreter, right? And those "get away with it" today - I mean you can write GPL programs in interpreted languages even if the interpreter is not GPLed.
I agree fully though that a "loaded and shipped" image is probably totally out of the question - I wasn't clear on that point.
(I am trying to compare this to for example classloading in Java during runtime)
Indeed, one could theoretically litigate the "open" question, at great cost and expense. The upside of being right is you get to use the software for free. The downside of being wrong is you are liable under the Copyright Act for actual damages, statutory damages (from $500 to $50K, within the jury's unreviewable discretion), penalties for willful damages, perhaps (up to $100K, within the judge or jury's discretion), and significantly, an award of attorney fees.
One would be insane to risk litigating that issue merely because it is "very much open," given that the cost of licensing comparable software is tiny compared to the liability downside, even discounted by the reasonable expectation of success.
Yes, of course. I agree on that. I am just curious...
regards, Göran
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