Re: XEmacs binding

On 29 Oct 2001, Yoshiki Hayashi wrote:

[Uh, I'm no lawyer either]

> Again, licensing issue comes into play. As IANAL, I don't really
> understand the details of viral nature of GNU GPL. However, as a
> programmer, I'd like my programs to be used by as many people as possible
> and I'm looking for a way to satisfy most people. Any help would be
> appreciated.

Why would you restrict the amount of users just because you pick a license
that does not spread to other source files?

> According to GNU GPL 2, you cannot distribute XEmacs executable linked
> with APR.

That is probably because of the announcement clause (BSD-style) right?

> (FSF says nothing about Subversion license but I guess it is also free
> software but incompatible with GNU GPL license because it is simlar to
> Apache License.)

I'd say so too.

> WORKAROUND
>
> 1. GPL applies to *distributing* executable. You can
> compile and link XEmacs with Subversion library on your
> own system.

That would be a sever blow in the face of the RPM users of the world and
others. Popular packages need to be distributed binary (as well) to get
accepted by a broad audience. IMHO.

> 2. Some says dlopen()'ed library is not derivative of the
> original program.

That is not what the GNU FAQ says. If you have an API more complex that just
a main, dlopen() does not circumvent GPL. (I could dig up a link if anyone
really cares.)

> I'm thinking about adding Subversion module to XEmacs and allow you to
> apply GNU GPL or modified BSD license (original BSD license modulo
> advertising clause) to the module so that some Linux distribution or
> others can redistribute svn.ell if they think it does not violate GNU
> GPL. Would this be reasonable? Is there any better way?

Why not use the plain modified BSD (without the announcement clause)? It
would run fine with Apache, Subversion *and* (L)GPL.

-- 
      Daniel Stenberg - http://daniel.haxx.se - +46-705-44 31 77
   ech`echo xiun|tr nu oc|sed 'sx\([sx]\)\([xoi]\)xo un\2\1 is xg'`ol
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