Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1751900AbWI1Nu4 (ORCPT ); Thu, 28 Sep 2006 09:50:56 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1751901AbWI1Nu4 (ORCPT ); Thu, 28 Sep 2006 09:50:56 -0400 Received: from 2-1-3-15a.ens.sth.bostream.se ([82.182.31.214]:18837 "EHLO zoo.weinigel.se") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751900AbWI1Nuz (ORCPT ); Thu, 28 Sep 2006 09:50:55 -0400 To: Jan Engelhardt Cc: Linus Torvalds , Alan Cox , Sergey Panov , James Bottomley , linux-kernel Subject: Re: GPLv3 Position Statement References: <1158941750.3445.31.camel@mulgrave.il.steeleye.com> <1159319508.16507.15.camel@sipan.sipan.org> <1159342569.2653.30.camel@sipan.sipan.org> <1159359540.11049.347.camel@localhost.localdomain> From: Christer Weinigel Organization: Weinigel Ingenjorsbyra AB Date: 28 Sep 2006 15:50:54 +0200 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.4 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1540 Lines: 29 Jan Engelhardt writes: > Hah then read LICENSE.LGPL! > > """Most GNU software, including some libraries, is covered by the > ordinary GNU General Public License. This license, the GNU Lesser > General Public License, applies to certain designated libraries, and > is quite different from the ordinary General Public License. We use > this license for certain libraries in order to permit linking those > libraries into non-free programs.""" > > If the GPL does not mention linking at all, and therefore does not > really forbid it, why do we need an LGPL to allow linking then? Clarification, just as the system call clarification in the Linux kernel COPYING file. By explicitly allowing dynamic linking the LGPL makes it clear that it is ok and avoids a lot of legal uncertainty. It may be that the that linking doesn't legally create a derived work, and that a bunch of the claims in the GPL are invalid, but to find out somebody has to bring it to court, get a judgement (not a settlement), and appeal it all the way to the supreme court. And to be really sure they'd have to do it in just about every country too. /Christer -- "Just how much can I get away with and still go to heaven?" Christer Weinigel http://www.weinigel.se - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/