Re: [gentoo-dev] No XFree86 w/ new license

[Jason Stubbs]

On Wednesday 25 February 2004 19:54, Brian Jackson wrote:
> On Wednesday 25 February 2004 00:32, Jason Stubbs wrote:
> > On Tuesday 17 February 2004 12:17, Donnie Berkholz wrote:
> > > We won't be adding versions of XFree86 with the 1.1 license [1] to the
> > > tree, so don't be surprised when 4.3.99.903 doesn't show up with the
> > > new license.
> > >
> > > I won't elaborate on the reasons because it's been discussed quite
> > > thoroughly in other forums.
> >
> > I hate to kick a dead horse, but...
> >
> > I've read all the reasons and understand them and don't wish to dispute
> > them, but I do have one small question. What's the difference between
> > this situation and the GPL'd Linux kernel "linking" against functions in
> > the close-sourced BIOS, ACPI, APM, etc, etc?
>
> The kernel doesn't link against those things. Actually the kernel doesn't
> link against anything ouside of the kernel itself (i.e. glibc, etc.) since
> those things wouldn't be available when the kernel is starting. Using
> hardware features is quite a bit different than linking against certain
> libraries. It's kind of the same as the difference between kernel space and
> user space (but not even close). We can have non-gpl'ed userspace programs
> even if they call the kernel in some way (and they all do, even a open()
> eventually gets to the kernel).

After reading the GPLv2 closely several times with your words in mind, I think 
I have a hold on how it all works now. Below are excepts of the GPLv2 with my 
interpretations. I'll take no response as affirmation. :)

<excerpts>
0. A "work based on the Program" means either the Program or any derivative 
work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a 
portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into 
another language.

3. For an executable work, complete source code means all the source code for 
all modules it contains, plus any associated interface definition files, plus 
the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable. 
However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not include 
anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with 
the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on 
which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies the 
executable.
</excerpts>

These two when combined mean that the source of a Program under the GPL 
includes all header files/libs/whatever that is required to be able to 
compile the Program. The source for the libs aren't part of the Program's 
source, but the libs themselves are.

The special exception I read, not as applying to the operating system but, as 
applying to the base platform. Hence, this automatically covers all hardware 
and negates my question above. On Windows, this means an out-of-the-box 
installation plus any updates to the operating system that are available.

On GNU/Linux, I understand it to be gcc, glibc & linux but beyond that the 
line is a bit fuzzy. In fact, glibc is licensed under the LGPL so I'm not 
even sure if that should be included in what makes up a GNU/Linux's base 
system. I can't see anything when flicking through the FAQ's TOC, but I'll 
read through that later and probably find the answer there.

I'll intentionally leave out an interpretation of 6, because it's fairly 
straight-forward when read with this understanding of Program.

Regards,
Jason Stubbs

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