Re: Binary Version for Mac OS X?

[Bob Friesenhahn]

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, herb wrote:

> Hi there.  I have created a Mac OS X 10.4 package that installs
> Autoconf 2.61.  I was wondering if it was "allowed" to have it
> uploaded to the ftp site.  Would it break any rules, such as the fact
> that the Mac OS X "Installer" program is proprietary software?  Even
> though Installer is proprietary software, the package is not software
> at all, and installer is just opening it.  Or is there not allowed to
> be any proprietary software in the equation at all?

You are correct that a strict interpretation of GPL v2 does not allow 
GPLed software to be installed using anything other than an an 
open-sourced installation program which is itself licenced for 
re-distribution under a no more restrictive license than GPL.  Many 
GPLed packages ignore this rule.

Red Hat's RPM is ok.  Inno-Setup (for Windows) is (maybe) ok.  Many 
others are not.  The "maybe" for Inno-Setup is that it is written in a 
language for which only proprietary tools exist.

Bob
======================================
Bob Friesenhahn
address@hidden, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/
GraphicsMagick Maintainer,    http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/