>Ambar Roy wrote: >>Anupam Jain wrote: >>Hi everyone, >> >>In light of the recent discussions about the Apple iTunes issue.. >> >>I think the GNU GPL does not allow distributing an object binary (i.e.closed >>source software) that can be linked with a free GPLd (or even LGPLd?) >>library to form an executable.. Does that not seem unfair? After all the >>distributers are not actually breaking the law by running tainted code but >>are only providing the means (tools) for others to do the same easily. So >>shouldn't *truly free* software not have this restriction? > >GPL/LGPL are not the only *free* licenses out there. BSD/Apache are examples >of a much liberal license. Seems like that is what you are looking for :-) > >The basic logic behind GPL is simple. If you use GPLed software as a base >for your projects, you will have to release your software under the GPL. >This is the "Viral Clause" of GPL. This helps the developers by keeping >their work free and while allowing others to improve upton their work, they >are reasonably assured that no one will steal their code. LGPL is more like >a special case of GPL for library code which makes the library code behave >like GPL, but not any applications that are linked to the code.
No, I still think GPL is Free-er than BSD except for that single caveat. So I want to release any software I might develop under a modified GNU like license which allows development and distribution of closed source software as long as it is separated cleanly-enough from my software (eg. if it uses the library only through it's public interface). The fact that THE GNU GPL does not include such a clause makes me wonder if there is a loophole I'm missing. The only bad thing I see about such a license is that it would also promote (in addition to free software) closed source software to be developed. But then Free Software is about community building and not killing other communities. - AJ _______________________________________________ ilugd mailinglist -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
