Dear FSF licensing experts, Is it a violation of the GPL (v2 and v3) to bundle the Visual C++ redistributable libraries and GPLed libraries in a single executable installer? I have already read the GPL FAQ (http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WindowsRuntimeAndGPL), which states that GPLed code can link to the Visual C++ libraries without violating the GPL, but that FAQ does not mention this situation and a disagreement has arisen (as well as some confusion).
The GNU Octave binary distribution for Windows includes the CLN library, which is under the GPL v2 or later, as well as the VC++ redistributable libraries. A CLN developer recently claimed that this is a GPL violation. Several Octave developers disagree. The CLN developer's explanation is at <http://www.cebix.net/pipermail/cln-list/2009-April/000506.html>. The extensive discussion of the issue on the Octave-Forge mailing list is at <http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_name=128f38bd0904200443oacc1502n55a860f2ccf8574a%40mail.gmail.com&forum_name=octave-dev>. (As you can see, there is a great deal of confusion!) If that is a GPL violation, does it depend strictly on the installer being an executable, or would it also apply to a .zip or .tar.gz installer (e.g., a compressed archive that contains an installation program and many packages to install, including the VC++ library installer executable)? I'm not sure whether a .zip file is considered "object code" under GPLv3 or "executable" or "object code" under GPLv2. Please include the Octave-Maintainers list and Octave-Forge list in your reply (reply to all). You may also wish to update the GPL FAQ to clarify, as this issue surely impacts more than just Octave. Thank you! Joe Vornehm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p _______________________________________________ Octave-dev mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/octave-dev
