Re: [libvirt] [PATCH] show compiled in options in virsh --version

[Jim Meyering]

Bruno Haible wrote:
> Hi Eric,
>
>> >>>          case 'v':
>> >>> -            /* FIXME - list a copyright blurb, as in GNU programs?  */
>> >>> -            puts(VERSION);
>> >>> +            vshShowVersion(ctl);
>> >>>              exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
>>
>> The gnulib module closeout can automatically take care of this, but it
>> is currently licensed as GPL.  Jim, Bruno, are you okay with relicensing
>> closeout and close-stream as LGPLv2+?
>
> In gnulib we have a rule of thumb which says that anything that calls exit()
> or xmalloc() is likely to end up only in executables, not in libraries, and
> code in executables can just as well be relicensed under GPL instead of LGPL.

Of course.  Thanks for the reminder, Bruno.
That is indeed a slippery slope.  I was too hasty in saying "ok".

Eric, one option is to use the GPLv3 for programs like virsh,
then to have a second gnulib library that they would use.

> In the libiconv and gettext packages, for example, the executables are all
> under GPL, although other parts of the package are under LGPL. Have you
> (and the management and lawyers behind libvirt) considered this approach for
> libvirt?
>
> I ask because 'closeout' may be only the beginning. Then comes 'xalloc',
> 'quotearg', and 'avltree-list', and at the end these high-value modules could
> be used by proprietary programs (assuming appropriate LGPL compliant 
> packaging).
> We need a borderline between what can go LGPL and what needs to stay GPL, and
> the rule of thumb mentioned above is a good guiding line.