[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Releasing a proprietary program under the GPL
From: |
sctkell |
Subject: |
Re: Releasing a proprietary program under the GPL |
Date: |
Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:57:04 -0700 (PDT) |
User-agent: |
G2/1.0 |
Ahhh... the answer to my own question is that Proprietary Program P
can link with non-free Library L and use free library G only if it's
okay with the copyright holders of G to link with non-free library L.
[1] That makes sense. Sorry for asking a FAQ!
[1] http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-faq.html#FSWithNFLibs
sctk...@gmail.com wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to learn about and understand the GPL and I hope I can
> present this question in a coherent manner.
>
> Let's say I'm the copyright holder to a proprietary program P. I want
> to change the license for P to use the GPL. However P is heavily
> dependent on a 3rd party proprietary library L. The license for L
> does not permit the redistribution of L's source, and you can only
> redistribute L's binaries if you have a "development license" for L.
> Also, L does not fit the definition for a "system library".
>
> At first I thought no problem - GPLv2 and v3 have a provision for the
> copyright holder to give permission to link P with GPL-incompatible
> libraries lilke L.
>
> However, let's say I want to integrate a GPL covered library G into my
> new GPL program P. However, unlike P, the license for G does NOT have
> a provision saying it's okay to link G with L. So could P link with G
> and L and be redistributed like that?
>
> Thanks!
> Scott