xgettext (Re: replication of stuff in /usr/gnu)

[Joerg Schilling]

Nicolas Williams <Nicolas.Williams at sun.com> wrote:

> Now, the _libraries_ that GNU xgettext comes with are another story, but
> we already ship GNU libs in /usr/sfw and /usr/gnu, so this too is
> nothing new -- the key thing here is that Sun products that aren't
> GPL'ed shouldn't link to such libraries in any way without Legal
> approval (which most likely you couldn't get).  Shipping != linking.
> And using != linking.

And the GPL does not forbid linking. In fact, the word "linking" appears 
nowhere in the GPL.

The GPL talks anbout "the work" and you may link a work against another
"work" because the GPL does not forbid it.

There are problems if you have a GPLd library because the author of this 
library could argue that any user of his library is creating a "derived work".
The other big problem is the GPLv3. I contrary what has been announced before,
the GPLv3 is more restrictive than the GPLv2 and tries to limit the scope
of the term "mere aggregation" to less than what the GPLv2 permits. 

Due to the fact that the FSF is currently converting all officialy FSF blessed 
GNU tools to GPLv3, this is something that needs careful observation.

Jörg

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