> if you want to tightly integrate your already existing code with > something released under GPL you will have to release the source for > your code also under GPL even though it was originally released under > some other license.
That's only true if you want to distribute it to other people, because the GPL is a hack on the copyright laws. You don't normally have the right to make a copy of code and give it to someone else, but the GPL grants you that additional permission if you follow its restrictions. That's why the GPL is binding, because only accepting the license gives you the right to distribute GPL code. Internally, you can do anything you like with GPL products. You can link it directly into Windows if you want. The GPL only kicks in when you give your code to someone else. If your distributed product contains GPL code, then ALL the code with the product typically needs to be under the GPL as well. As long as you're not giving it to anyone else, the GPL doesn't apply. And if code you distribute doesn't contain any pieces of GPL code, then it also doesn't apply. You're free to put whatever license you want on your own code, as long as you're not shipping GPL code as part of it. And you only have to give your code to people that you actually give your binaries to, not any random Joe Schmoe off the street. If you can trust your customers not to distribute something further, you can still keep GPL code mostly secret. In other words, it's only "viral" if you're depending on GPL code to make some final product. Presumably, you're using the GPLed code because it would be too expensive to either write it yourself or pay for a commercial equivalent, and you pay for your use of that code by contributing your own to the GPL universe. If you don't want to do that, then don't distribute GPL code as part of your product, and you avoid the problem completely. It is, in my opinion, an extremely fair license, but if you think the price of distributing it is too high, you can use BSD code, or pay money for a commercial equivalent instead. -- Malor ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Malor's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=1961 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=77579 _______________________________________________ Touch mailing list Touch@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/touch
