Re: [gentoo-dev] Contributed ebuilds and copyright questions

[Alexis Ballier]

On Tue, 25 Oct 2016 10:15:09 -0400
Rich Freeman <rich0@g.o> wrote:

> On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 9:56 AM, Alexis Ballier <aballier@g.o>
> wrote:
> > On Tue, 25 Oct 2016 09:17:08 -0400
> > Rich Freeman <rich0@g.o> wrote:
> >
> >> On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 8:54 AM, Ulrich Mueller <ulm@g.o>
> >> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > Also, calling eclass functions could be considered linking. It is
> >> > not entirely clear to me if e.g. a binpkg built with a CDDL
> >> > licensed ebuild calling GPL licensed eclasses would be
> >> > distributable at all.
> >>
> >> Honestly, I think the GPL linking argument is a difficult one at
> >> best, but setting that aside I think it is even harder to consider
> >> calling a function in an interpreted language "linking."  Is it a
> >> violation of the GPL to execute a GPL binary from a bash script
> >> that is GPL-incompatible?  Heck, is it a violation of the other
> >> license for the GPL bash interpreter to read and execute the
> >> non-GPL lines in the script?
> >
> > The concept is "derived work": If your script cannot work without
> > the GPL binary, then it is derived work.
> >
>
> I don't think any well-recognized organization argues that scripts are
> derived works of the binaries they call.  Besides, literally the only
> thing about the binary that a script contains is the name of the
> binary, and some command line options.  This seems like it is going
> even further than suggesting that APIs be copyrightable.


This has nothing to do with APIs nor what it contains. This has to do
whether your program still does what you claim it does if you remove
the GPL parts.

If I write a QT gui that forks/exec x264 cli and want to sell it as the
best H264 encoder on the market, then I have to comply with x264
license since it won't do what I claim once x264 is removed.
If I want to sell the same program as a QT gui for x264 cli, then it is
far less clear whether it is derivative work, but I'll certainly have
more difficulties in selling it :)



Back to the subject, a CDDL ebuild is a CDDL script to install a
program. If you can't install the program without the GPL parts (that
are distributed inside the same binpkg iirc), then it is derivative
work.