[sword-devel] More thoughts on GPL

[Jerry Hastings]

There are two issues that have been discussed together and are similar and 
that may be causing some confusion and crossover in the discussions.

1) Linking non-GPL works to GPL libraries.

2) Linking GPL works to non-GPL libraries.

The issue in 1 is whether the non-GPL work becomes a derivative of the GPL 
libraries. Currently  the Sword Project is GPL so this is not a problem for 
the current code. It could be a problem if the Sword Project decided to 
produce a non-GPL version or if a non-GPL front end linked to the Sword 
API. I am not sure we would want either of these any way.

The Issue in 2 is that all code, even that which is linked to must be 
released in a source code format, unless it falls under certain exceptions. 
The problem is that CrossWire may not be able to get the source code or the 
rights to distribute them for non-GPL libraries, or be able to get the 
required exception from some of the GPL contributors. This is a problem for 
WinCE development.

Chris, Troy, is that about right?

Jerry