Re: iTunes mode for NTEmacs

[s takeda]

>     My lisp program (win-itunes.el) controls iTunes
>     through
>     two Perl scripts and these scripts internally use
>     Win32::OLE module which is available only on Perl
>     for Windows.

> is that module free software?

Maybe yes because the module file (OLE.pm, which
is distributed in cygwin) includes the following
statement.

=head1 COPYRIGHT

    (c) 1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
    Developed by ActiveWare Internet Corp., now known as
    ActiveState Tool Corp., http://www.ActiveState.com

    Other modifications Copyright (c) 1997-2000 by Gurusamy Sarathy
    <address@hidden> and Jan Dubois <address@hidden>

    You may distribute under the terms of either the GNU General Public
    License or the Artistic License, as specified in the README file.

=head1 VERSION

Version 0.1703    6 September 2005


> Is there a way to write these Perl scripts without using
> that module, so that it would run on GNU/Linux
> using all free software?

Because I have little knowledge about Perl, I
can't say for certain but I think that the module
is necessary for creating a program which intends
to control iTunes externally by Perl.

In the first place, Apple's iTunes is currently
ported only to Mac and MS Windows.  So, from the
beginning, I can't make my program run on other
platforms (my program is created in order to control
iTunes from Emacs, and if there is no iTunes on a
platform, my program is of no use on that
platform).  If iTunes is ported to other platforms
(e.g. GNU/Linux), I may be able to make my program
run there (but even in such a situation, as
pointed out in Rupert's message, iTunes itself
will still remain non-free software).