[sword-devel] Wiki Misrepresentation

[Greg Hellings]

On Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 9:29 AM, DM Smith<dmsmith at crosswire.org> wrote:
> On 08/03/2009 09:58 AM, Greg Hellings wrote:
>>
>> I was on this page - http://crosswire.org/wiki/Frontends:FeatureList -
>> earlier today and noticed the following line:
>> All frontends MUST be GPLv2 licensed. (This should be obvious. The
>> SWORD Project is GPLv2-licensed. All derivative works, such as
>> frontends and utilities, must be GPLv2 or they would be in violation
>> of CrossWire's copyright and the copyrights of 3rd parties whose code
>> has been incorporated into SWORD, e.g. the FSF.)
>>
>> However, that is directly in contradiction to the words of the Free
>> Software Foundation's FAQ lines about this exact situation:
>> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#IfLibraryIsGPL
>> If a library is released under the GPL (not the LGPL), does that mean
>> that any program which uses it has to be under the GPL or a
>> GPL-compatible license?
>> Yes, because the program as it is actually run includes the library.
>>
>> This explicitly allows for distribution of other works under
>> compatible licenses, not only under the GPL.
>
> This is only part of the story. The GPL is viral and anything built from GPL
> libraries also has to be GPL. As I understand it, this clause allows for
> dual licensing with another compatible license. It does not remove the viral
> nature of the GPL.
>
> There is another entry in the same FAQ that says that when combining GPL
> code with other non-GPL, but compatible license code, the resultant code is
> GPL.
> See: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WhatDoesCompatMean
> What does it mean to say a license is “compatible with the GPL?”
>
> It means that the other license and the GNU GPL are compatible; you can
> combine code released under the other license with code released under the
> GNU GPL in one larger program.
>
> All GNU GPL versions permit such combinations privately; they also permit
> distribution of such combinations provided the combination is released under
> the same GNU GPL version. The other license is compatible with the GPL if it
> permits this too.
>
> GPLv3 is compatible with more licenses than GPLv2: it allows you to make
> combinations with code that has specific kinds of additional requirements
> that are not in GPLv3 itself. Section 7 has more information about this,
> including the list of additional requirements that are permitted.

This is talking about combining two sets of code into a different
program, not linking a program against a library.  The link that I
posted is very specifically talking about if I write program Y that
links the SWORD library, which is GPLv2, which is the situation most
(all?) of our frontends are in.  Additionally, here is what the FSF
wrote when directly asked about this scenario in our case:

***********************************************************************************************************
From: Karl Berry via RT <licensing at fsf.org>
Date: Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 9:34 AM
Subject: Re: [gnu.org #421469] Question about the GPL v2 and public domain
To:


Hi,

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#IfLibraryIsGPL says:

> If a library is released under the GPL (not the LGPL), does that mean
> that any program which uses it has to be under the GPL or a
> GPL-compatible license?
>
> Yes, because the program as it is actually run includes the library.

The crucial words here are "or a GPL-compatible license".
Public domain is compatible with the GPL.
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#PublicDomain

Therefore this is ok and the application code can be public domain,
while the library is GPL.

The files which are public domain can just say "This file is released
into the public domain."  They do not need a dual license.
******************************************************************************************************

Karl, the gentleman from the FSF who answered the query very
specifically states that the source code files of the  program linking
the GPL library "do not need a dual license."  The public domain
license is just one of the licenses listed.  Thus, without CrossWire's
permission, anyone may use any of
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html which are designated as
compatible with GPLv2 as the license for their application which links
the SWORD libraries.

--Greg