Re: Problem with GPLv3 FAQ about linking with Visual C++

[Hyman Rosen]

On 2/3/2010 5:12 PM, Alexander Terekhov wrote:
> note that Red Hat's collective work contains tons of
> non-GPL components even "incompatible" with the GPL.

The collective work that is a GNU/Linux system is more
loosely bound than the libraries in a statically linked
program, but more tightly bound than an unrelated
collection of software on a disk.

GPLv3 describes this as
    <http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html>
    A compilation of a covered work with other separate
    and independent works, which are not by their nature
    extensions of the covered work, and which are not
    combined with it such as to form a larger program,
    in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium,
    is called an “aggregate” if the compilation and its
    resulting copyright are not used to limit the access
    or legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what
    the individual works permit. Inclusion of a covered
    work in an aggregate does not cause this License to
    apply to the other parts of the aggregate.

The FSF has decided that this is where it wants to draw
the boundary for giving permission to combine GPLed software
in a collective work without requiring that the rest of the
collective work be bound by the GPL.