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Subject:
From:
"W. Wesley Groleau x4923" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
W. Wesley Groleau x4923
Date:
Mon, 5 Mar 2001 15:19:47 -0500
Content-Type:
text/plain
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> If Allchin and his masters get their way, programmers (and,
> more relevantly, project managers) on government projects will
> not be permitted to issue certain kinds of free software.

It just occurred to me: M$ claimed GPL code is unfair competition,
but maybe their real objection is "The GPL won't let us steal it."

After all, it's nearly impossible to prevent someone from giving
away code.  But it is NOT impossible to prevent the enforcement
of a license like GPL.

> Nor is the GPL the all-contaminating virus it's claimed to be.  I
> wrote a bad little newsreader for Windows called Foxynews, and as
> the documentation makes very clear, it contains GPLed code, BSD
> code, and code where I obtained permission from the authors for
> this particular use.
>
> Do people who claim that the GPL contaminates everything it touches
> seriously believe that, by using the code for uudecode in my little
> newsreader, I've changed the licensing on uudecode from BSD to GPL?

The GPL (not the LGPL or code covered by a GNAT-style exception)
plainly states that one is not allowed to combine GPL-covered code
with code that is not GPL-covered.  Unless you are hiding/hoarding
the source for that item, you don't have to worry about FSF prosecution.
Although, one could argue that you have violated the license, because
you have not (cannot) prohibit the BSD code from being incorporated
into an otherwise proprietary program.

--
Wes Groleau
http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~wgroleau

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