- OpenSSL is not considered 'part of the system libraries', and thus does not fall under that excemption in the GPL.
Debian can not ever use the system libraries exception. If you carefuly read GPL(3), it's clear why: "need not include anything that is normally distributed...with the major components...of the operating system...unless that component itself accompanies the executable." On a Debian FTP server or cd/dvd set, everything accompanies each other. So even if openssl is normally distributed with the major components of the Debian OS, it doesn't matter; the executable is being distributed with openssl.
If you link against Apple's openssl, then Fink can probably use this exception.
- The FSF GPL seems to argue (in their GPL FAQ) that if a (GPL licenced) application has specific code to interface with a non-GPL package, then you may assume that such an exception is implied by the authors of the code. I would then logically conclude, that would imply those authors were at fault by just distributing that specific code interfacing with OpenSSL. However, I am not a lawyer, but had the impression that the legal people did not agree with my logic here. So I gave up.
There are two problems with this.
1. Debian is very conservative on licensing issues. So we never
allow this argument. 2. This would really only apply if OpenSSL support was in the
software from the start and no code has been borrowed from
other GPL projects. If the OpenSSL code was added later then contributers before
the addition of OpenSSL certainly can't be said to have
intended their code to be used with gpl-incompatible OpenSSL. If the project has used GPL code from other projects then
there is no reason to expect those authors are OK with OpenSSL
either.
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