>RMS recognized early on that distributions of GPL with unrelated 
>(non-derivative) non-GPL code, and their coexistence on a single 
>system and ability to run on a non-GPL'd OS, was essential for 
>workers in the real world.  The problem is that the exception 
>presumes the traditional Unix-based OS/application dichotomy, which 
>has no meaning in a monolithic image model (indeed, Squeak need not 
>even run under an OS).


Apologies for the C++ technical talk here... but it provides another 
example of problems one encounters with the LGPL.

Here at work we were pondering a similiar issue, but with regards to 
a LGPL'd C++ library that has some templatized classes. The 'C' model 
of the LGPL world doesn't apply to C++ templates, yet the LGPL's has 
clauses about inline functions. Templates in C++ often are inlined, 
and even if they are not, the code in the templates are emitted by 
the compilers into non-library code, effectively behaving as if it 
were inlined.


--Dave