Rjack wrote:
By statutory definition, a compilation does *not* modify a
preexisting work, hence sec. 2 never applies to compilations.
So... what section of the GPL applies to compilations consisting
of the preexisting "separately copyrighted" elements?
If there were no such section, then it would be infringement to
conveystatically linked programs containing GPLed elements, since
the default permission is none.
But the GPL gives such permission:
<http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html> To “modify” a work
means to copy from or adapt all or part of the work in a fashion
requiring copyright permission, other than the making of an exact
copy. The resulting work is called a “modified version” of the
earlier work or a work “based on” the earlier work. ... You may
convey a work based on the Program, or the modifications to produce
it from the Program, in the form of source code under the terms of
section 4, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
... * c) You must license the entire work, as a whole, under this
License to anyone who comes into possession of a copy.
A statically linked program contains material which has been copied
from the libraries it links with, and thus it may be conveyed as a
whole under the GPL.