GPL vs BSD Licence

[David Schwartz]

> The GPL and Linux don't care if you link into their system libraries,
> they expect that which is why the system libraries are LGPLd
>
> What they care about is linking into libraries (like readline) which
> they consider "their" work.  If you do it, regardless of whether you
> use those library headers or use a translation think like you are
> outlining here, you must GPL your stuff.
>
> The contamination comes from linking in, even dynamically, not from
> just using ascii source files.

	Since the linking occurs *after* the distribution, it's part of use. How a
work is used, after its made and distributed, can't make it a derived work
of another work. The only way the GPL can be mandatory is if the thing it is
claimed to be mandatory for is a derived work.

	If I write a piece of code that uses a defined interface, it's utterly
preposterous to argue that it is derivative from an *implementation* of that
interface, since it could be used with *any* implementation of that
interface.

	It is, of course, derivative of the interface itself, which is why I
clearly specified that you should use your own interface.

	DS