gpgme license

[Marcus Brinkmann]

On Tue, Jul 23, 2002 at 02:41:47PM -0400, marius aamodt eriksen wrote:
> > > it can be released under the LGPL, so that i am allowed to link BSD
> > > licensed applications to it?  i know many people who would appreciate
> > > this.
> > 
> > You are allowed to link BSD code against GPLed code.  The resulting binary 
> > is GPLed.
> 
> i've read the license more carefully.  gzsig being linked to gpgme,
> being GPLed is considered "work based on the Program" and is thus
> subject to some conditions;
> 
>   2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion
>   of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and
>   distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1
>   above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
> 
>     ...
> 
>     b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in
>     whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any
>     part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third
>     parties under the terms of this License.
> 
> and i have talked to some other people as well, basically exclaiming
> that the binary is bound to the source, and when the binary is GPL,
> the source code needs to follow it with all its conditions.

So far, everything you said is correct.

> so, linking gzsig into gpgme would indeed make it a non-free piece of
> software.

Uh, no, unless you consider GPL software to be non-free software, which
requires malicious intentions or a very strange understanding of what freedom
means.  I don't really think that either is true for you, so where is your
misunderstanding?  The new BSD license (the one without the advertisement
clause) is compatible with the GPL, in the sense that software covered under
the one license can be combined with software covered under the other
license, and the result will have to be distributed under the terms of the
GPL (note that the BSD license allows to relicense derived works).

Thanks,
Marcus

-- 
`Rhubarb is no Egyptian god.' GNU      http://www.gnu.org    marcus at gnu.org
Marcus Brinkmann              The Hurd http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/
Marcus.Brinkmann at ruhr-uni-bochum.de
http://www.marcus-brinkmann.de/