On Thu, Jan 20, 2000 at 06:53:39PM -0800, David Johnson wrote: > Craig Sanders wrote: > > > everybody else has to abide by the terms of the license under which the > > software is released, and the GPL is quite clear about what you can > > and can't do. In particular, you have to distribute all of the code > > under the same terms as the GPL (with an exception for system libraries > > that normally come with the OS/compiler/etc, *except* when those system > > libraries are distributed along with the code in question. Qt doesn't > > qualify because it is not a system library normally distributed with the > > OS and even if it was, we still wouldn't be allowed to distribute it > > along with, say, KDE or kgv). > > IANAL, but I near as I can figure, Qt is normally distributed with my > OS. To quote: "...the source code distributed need not include anything > that is normally distributed ... with the major components ... of the > operating system on which the executable runs...". Expect when those system libraries are distributed along with the code in question. > > other dists may choose to ignore this fact. Debian actually cares about > > free software and about licenses and we only distribute software when > > the license allows us to do so. > > The other distributions actually *do* care as well. No offense to any > Debian developers or users, but Debian is not sacred. Attempts to > portray it as morally superior to other distros is very insulting to > developers and users of those distros. Frankly, they don't. Virtually all the other distrobutions take a pragmatic line, at best. Even Red Hat's default install installs Netscape. If "morally superior" is using only free software without license problems, Debian is "morally superior" to virtually all the other distributions. > > there are two "easy" solutions to this problem: > > There is a third way. And that would be for GPLv3 to specifically allow > dynamic linking to non-GPL libraries. Letting Company X dynamically link their proprietary frontend to the GCC backend. If this happens, and I have a car at that time, I will drive up to Boston and personally make sure RMS gets good medical care, be mental illness or a bad case of the flu. -- David Starner - dstarner98@aasaa.ofe.org If you wish to strive for peace of soul then believe; if you wish to be a devotee of truth, then inquire. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
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