Re: About GPL and proprietary software

1) GCC has an exception in it's clause that says that code inserted from
GCC itself is not covered by the GPL

2) The Linux libraries are LGPL, not GPL

3) BSD has no problem with this, as all of their headers are BSD. They
include small amounts of code from GCC, but that is covered under the
exception #1 above.

Now, what many people don't realize is that _statically_ linking with
glibc DOES require your program to be GPL or LGPL. Many companies are
linking illegally (I used to work for one). The remedy is not "all your
code are belong to us" but rather "You must stop doing this". EXCEPTION -
you can statically link proprietary software to LGPL code provided you
also distribute your unlinked binaries as well, so the end user could
relink to a later version if they wanted to.

Jon

On Tue, 2 Sep 2003, Gianni Mariani wrote:

> Ron Johnson wrote:
>
> >On Tue, 2003-09-02 at 08:52, Jonathan Bartlett wrote:
> >
> >
> >>I think the main issue in dynamic linking is whether or not you used the
> >>GPL headers. If you did, then you are in fact combining your work with a
> >>GPL work. If you did not, then how is one to know _which_ library you are
> >>linking against. It could be the GPL library, but it could also be any
> >>other library which exports the same symbols. If I link to Motif, I am
> >>not obliging myself to the GPL just because Lesstif exists.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >Exactly. If you use GPL headers, then you are tying (i.e. "linking"
> >in the grammatical sense) yourself to that GPL software, and *that*
> >would mean that you must GPL your own software.
> >
> >
>
> Would that mean that any software compiled with GCC that uses standard
> headers and released commercially is now under the GPL ?
>
> Hence BSD and other free licences ?
>
> There is a huge body of code that this applies to that is not deemed
> covered by the GPL today and they're going to be awfully upset if you're
> right.
>
> G
>
>
>
>
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