Sebastian Günther <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> OK, now I finally got it right:
>
> It is about the "scripts". What other people may call makefiles.
>
> The scripts and files bundled with your cdrtools to control the build
> process are under CDDL.
>
> E.g. RULES/i686-linux-gcc.rul:
You did _not_ get it right.
the file RULES/i686-linux-gcc.rul is part of a program that Debian replaced by
cmake. This file is _not_ part of mkisofs and this file is _not_ part of "the
build scripts" as it is part of the generic tool chain that is not required by
the GPL to be part of the source. The program "cmake" is nothing than a less
portable attempt o replace the features of the program called "the schily
makefile system". Both programs are not specific to a certain program but
program independent.
> An interpretation of the GPL which I can follow.
Well this is because you did oversee important facts in the GPL as many people
do who claim to have read the GPL.
As I did already explain the legal facts for using the program "the schily
makefile system" (you should read it to reduce your confusion), let me explain
why the GPL does not require "the build scripts" to be under GPL:
If you _carefully_ read the GPL (lawyers do it, I did it but Debian doesn't),
you will find the following important fact:
The GPL uses the phrase "under the terms of this License" in all places except
the place where it requires "the scripts used to control compilation" to be
made available.
It is obvious that this has been done intentionally. If you did understand the
general intention of the GPL you would know that requiring these "scripts" to
be under GPL would not be aligned with the basic idea of the GPL: "you need to
put everything under GPL that is a derived work of GPLd software". These
scripts are obviously _not_ derived from the program. This is why they need to
be available but not under GPL.
As I wrote many times before: legal discussions are like programming. You do it
wrong if you do not think all your ideas to it's logical end. If you forget to
consider a fact when planning a program it will fail later. If you forget to
consider a fact when you check your legal claims, they are not compatible with
reality.
Jörg
--
EMail:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (home) Jörg Schilling D-13353 Berlin
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (uni)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (work) Blog: http://schily.blogspot.com/
URL: http://cdrecord.berlios.de/old/private/ ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/schily
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