Re: Lua and GNU readline linking

[David Given <dg@...>]

On Monday 20 February 2006 19:14, Lefteris Chatzibarbas wrote:
[...]
> I just wanted to raise awareness of the fact that GNU readline has
> caused problems to a LOT of software out there, being a GPL'd library,
> and I saw that it was "included" in some way in Lua 5.1.

If you write software that uses GPL'd software, and you produce a binary that 
contains compiled versions of that GPL'd software, you are only legally 
entitled to distribute the result if it's licensed under the GPL, because 
it's a derivative product.

If you write software that uses LGPL'd software, and you produce a binary that 
contains compiled versions of that LGPL'd software, you can distribute it 
under any license you like.

If you write software that uses GPL'd software, and you're not producing a 
binary at all but are simply distributing the source code, the GPL doesn't 
kick in and you can do what you like with it, because it's not a derivative 
product. Your source code does not contain *any* part of the GPL'd software, 
merely references to it.

It's also worth noting: the GPL only kicks in if you're *distributing* 
software --- if you're not, it has nothing to say. It is *not* an EULA, it's 
a redistribution license. You're perfectly allowed to do whatever you like to 
some GPL'd software provided you never give it to anyone.

-- 
+- David Given --McQ-+ "Is Eris true?" "Everthing is true." "Even false
|  dg@cowlark.com    | things?" "Even false things are true." "How can
| (dg@tao-group.com) | that be?" "I don't know, man. I didn't do it!" ---
+- www.cowlark.com --+ _Prinicipa Discordia_

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