From: Maury Markowitz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > I'm curious about using GPL'ed software in a supporting role for > non-GLP software. Let's say YoyoDyne takes the Debian installer > verbatum and uses it to install the next version of their propietary > InternetDestructor 5.x. Is this legally acceptable?
Yes. If you use a GPL program to manipulate some data (programs are data too), it doesn't change the license of the data. That's a "No" answer to most of your questions. > If YoyoDyne wants to put a GUI wrapper around the dpkg, what then? > Does making a GUI wrapper for the product become a case of > "incorporating" it into a propietary system? A non-GPL GUI wrapper around a GPL product could be considered a _derived_ product and could be a GPL violation. > Even if the original code is completely unchanged? It could still be considered an extension of the program, since the GUI has no other purpose but to run that program. > If the GUI in question is written in C > for WinAPI's and that C code is then distriubted, does that mean it > is no longer proprietary? GPL-ed code can call Windows APIs, as long as those APIs are distributed as a standard component of the operating system. You'd have use the GPL or a compatible license for the GUI program (LGPL, X11 license, Public Domain). > If there is non-free software used during the build of the GUI wrapper, > what then? If a library that doesn't have a license compatible with the GPL _and_ is not a standard component of the operating system is used, you have a problem. You don't have a GPL problem just because you used the MS C compiler, although you would probably not get something in Debian's main if non-free tools were _required_ to build a Debian component. Thanks Bruce