[lug] GPL/Open Source License Questions

[Jeffrey Siegal]

Peter Hutnick wrote:
>>>>Certainly it violates the spirit of the GPL.
>>>
>>>I disagree.
>>
>>Not everyone agrees with the FSFs interpretation
> 
> Uh.  By whom was the GPL imbued with a spirit, if not the FSF?

In the case of a particular piece of software, the most important intent 
is that of the person or people licensing the software, and perhaps to a 
lesser extent, the general understanding of GPL in the community.  The 
FSF's interpretation has some bearing on the general understaing, but is 
not necessarily going to apply in any particular case, unless of course 
the FSF is a party to the relationship (which in the case of software 
placed under GPL by someone other than the FSF, it is not).

> To be clear, are you saying that forking /might/ be linking?  Or that
> something less than forking might not be?

I'm suggesting that the relevant distinction is probably whether the 
combination forms a "derived work" or not.  The particular technology 
used to form the combination is not necessarily relevant.  It is 
plausible that both possiblities you suggest are true on some cases, and 
not true in others.