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Re: OT: GPL and jar file
From: |
Per Bothner |
Subject: |
Re: OT: GPL and jar file |
Date: |
Fri, 16 Aug 2002 14:35:58 -0700 |
User-agent: |
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.1b) Gecko/20020722 |
Andreas Rueckert wrote:
I have a licensing question, that you might be able to answer: are 2 classes in
a jar file 'linked' in a GPL way? I mean, if class A is under GPL and I put it
in a jar file with class B, does it restrict the license of B to GPL? Or could
B still be closed source?
This is a legal question, and I don't think anyone here can really
answer it.
My guess is that just placing the classes in a jar doesn't "link" them,
but loading both classes into the same JVM does. However, this is
like the old "user-does-the-link" ploy which (I believe) NeXT tried
(for the Objective-C compiler). The FSF sicced their lawyers on them
and NeXT ended up Free'ing their Objective-C compiler.
A determining factor is likely to be to what extent B depends on A.
If they are completely independent, it is probably ok ("mere
aggregation"); but if B depends on A, I wouldn't try it.
--
--Per Bothner
address@hidden http://www.bothner.com/per/