Request: Summary of GPL Problems

Russell Allen russell.allen at firebirdmedia.com
Tue Nov 13 04:40:09 UTC 2001


David Chase <chase at world.std.com> wrote:
> Supposing I took a piece of GPL code and combined it with a piece
> of (say) proprietary code that forbids source redistribution.

[snip]

> Can I release the resulting binary?  If I do, GPL says I must make
> source available to ALL code linked (combined) into the binary; this
> would include the proprietary code whose license forbids redistribution.
> Therefore, if I release the code, I must violate (at least) one license,
> hence I cannot legally release the code.

Isn't this just an intended result of the GPL?

Assuming that I am not going to worry too much about making life easy
for people who want to make proprietary versions of my code, is there a
situation where GPLing my code will impede the use of that code by other
researchers?

Russell




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