Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sun, 12 Jul 1998 12:43:10 -0700 | From | Tim Smith <> | Subject | Re: Linus Speaks About KDE-Bashing |
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At 04:47 PM 7/12/98 +0100, Alan Cox wrote: >They are using it to prevent a free software project becoming dependant >on a non free product that they can't modify and isnt free. Their >argument is precisely identical to the case where I produce a binary >only module the kernel depends on for functionality - say the networking >and say "its ok, its not being charged for - look at KDE you said that >was ok".
[NOTE: many of the messages in this thread are sent to several individuals and three mailing lists. I've been deleting the individuals, except sometimes for the person I'm directly responding to, and leaving all the lists. Is this the appropriate thing to do, or should I be sending to everyone the original was sent to?]
1. So what happens if I try to GPL a program I write for Windows NT? I end up with a free software project dependent on a non-free product that you can't modify and is not free. The GPL allows this, under the "major components of the OS" exception, so there is no doubt that I can *legally* do this. Are you saying it is *morally* wrong for me to do so, and the free software community should reject my program and get upset if I use other people's free software in my free project for NT? If not, how is KDE different? My project is free GPL'ed software that runs on any system that has the proprietary non-free Windows NT installed, and KDE is free GPL'ed software that runs on any system that has the proprietary non-free Qt library installed. (Remember, I'm asking about a moral difference, not a legal difference, so let's not get into the issue of shared linking vs. static linking, and things like that).
2. As far as I've been able to tell, I can legally make binary-only kernel modules and distribute them. It would annoy Linus, and so if I end up using Linux in the embedded system I might be working on someday at work, I'll make sure all my proprietary changes are in an application, not a kernel module, but as far as I can tell from reading the licenses and taking copyright and contract law classes in law school, and talking to lawyers and law school professors, I'm doing it this way because I am a nice guy who doesn't want to piss off Linus. :-)
--Tim Smith
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