Date: Sun, 07 Apr 2002 03:15:03 -0700 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: Ian Pulsford <ianjp@optusnet.com.au> Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Abuses of the BSD license? Message-ID: <3CB01C27.CA0B2600@mindspring.com> References: <200204051922.06556@silver.dt1.binity.net> <3CAE7037.801FB15F@optusnet.com.au> <3CAEA028.186ED53E@optusnet.com.au> <3CAED90B.F4B7905@mindspring.com> <3CAEFFAA.91525BB3@optusnet.com.au> <3CAF74A9.135485DA@mindspring.com> <3CAFA609.32DD89E4@optusnet.com.au>
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Ian Pulsford wrote:
> But surely, strictly speaking, you can't?
That is correct. I and many others have stated this opinion
before.
> Adding a license is not one a right you get automatically when you
> get a piece of code.
You can sublicense, depending on the original license of the
code, and whther the new license permits the old license to
remain, or requires that it be removed (in which case, you
can not use the new license for the work itself, only for the
aggregate (if there is one), or if the original author makes
the change.
> Actually I reread the GPL carefully a little while ago and I
> am not convinced that you need to give everything distributed
> with GPLed software a GPL. I think this is a misunderstanding
> that has gotten out of control.
Depends on what you mean by "with"...
> In section 2 of the GPL:
>
> "These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If
> identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and
> can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in
> themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those
> sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you
***********************************************
> distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on
> the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this
> License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire
> whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it."
>
> This doesn't say you have to give separate works the GPL license only
> that you have to distribute it under the same terms while it is part of
> a GPLed package.
That's right. If they are part of the whole, then you must GPL
all the parts.
You introduce some reinterpretation when you use the word "package"
here, since it could mean "a package which agregates seperate works";
the GPL specifically states that it doesn't apply to "mere aggregations"
(last paragraph of section 2). Your introduced wording is not part of
the GPL.
-- Terry
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