Timeline for Call GPL software from non-GPL software
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 27, 2011 at 11:34 | comment | added | MSalters | You're wrong on the GUI part, though. That same GUI wrapper will work with other CLI programs, in particular later versions of the original. That is relevant in this context, because it means the original GPL rights on the underlying program can still be exercised. If I recompile it to be 10% faster, the CLI doesn't hinder me. | |
| Sep 25, 2011 at 14:53 | comment | added | Michael Borgwardt | @Dave: Except, of course, that compilers and all kinds of closed software are NOT useless without the Linux kernel, since they can and do run on anything that implements the POSIX and/or C library standards, and provide significant functionality of their own. Completely different matter than a GUI wrapper that exists solely to drive one specific command line program. | |
| Sep 25, 2011 at 11:23 | comment | added | Dave Sherohman | Let's substitute one of the examples from the section you quoted and see how that holds up. "...but the question is about the compiler, which is completely useless without the kernel, and therefore it's true beyond a shadow of a doubt that they form a single program." Except, of course, that the text you quoted explicitly states "you can treat them as two separate programs". If it was simply a matter of dependency, then you could never run closed software on Linux because that software would be "completely useless" without the (GPLed) kernel. | |
| Sep 24, 2011 at 14:47 | history | edited | Michael Borgwardt | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 189 characters in body
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| Sep 24, 2011 at 14:44 | comment | added | Michael Borgwardt | @Dave: Whether the underlying command-line program remains able to function in the absence of the GUI overlay might be relevant if the license status of the command line program were in question - but the question is about the GUI, which is completely useless without the command line program, and therefore it's true beyond a shadow of a doubt that they form a single program. | |
| Sep 24, 2011 at 13:26 | comment | added | Dave Sherohman | No, they do not "clearly form a single program". So long as the underlying command-line program remains able to function in the absence of the GUI overlay, they are combined by "mere aggregation" and are not "effectively a single program". Note the examples in the text you quoted - a compiler sits on top of the kernel and won't run without it, but the kernel will happily run in the absence of the compiler. | |
| Sep 24, 2011 at 10:56 | history | answered | Michael Borgwardt | CC BY-SA 3.0 |