'GPL encumbrance problems'

[Mike McCarty]

Paul Howarth wrote:
> Les Mikesell wrote:
> 

[snip]

>>> I don't see what the big deal is with the GPL "encumbrance". It's just
>>> like any other license - if you can't live with its terms, just don't
>>> incorporate software licensed by it into your own work.
>>>
>>> It's like seeing some whiz-bang control you might like to use if you're
>>> a Visual Basic programmer, except that the license for the control costs
>>> $1,000. If you don't want to pay the $1,000, you don't use the control.
>>> What's the difference?
>>
>>
>>
>> So it wouldn't bother you at all if every time someone asked
>> a question here about a problem that exists in Linux distributions
>> the answer was always to drop Linux and switch to OSX, Windows,
>> Solaris or similar commercial products that include working
>> code under licences not compatible with the GPL?
> 
> 
> What is it that is GPL'ed in this example? If a developer wants to use 

The entire interface library for C, FORTRAN, etc.

> someone else's GPLed code in their product (and distribute it), they 
> must GPL their product too. If they don't want to use anyone else's 
> GPL'ed code, they don't.

No, you see there are parts of the library which any program needs
which are loaded at run time. Even though they aren't a part of the
program, the GPL claims to exert power over the program because it
*might* get linked at load time with a GPL library.

Are you saying we should all re-write open(), close() etc?

>  > "Don't use it" on the developer side means "not available on Linux" 
> on the
> 
>> end user side.  
> 
> 
> No, it means "use someone else's library or write your own", just as you 
> would in the proprietary world.

No, not even MicroSoft says that you can't call open() without
making your code theirs. In fact, no one does that except GPL.

(I'm not claiming that open() is GPL, it might be LGPL, but
even LGPL is so confusing to read that I'm not sure what
it means, exactly, and it certainly has some scary language.)

Mike
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