Can Java code EVER be GPLd, at all?
Arandir
arandir at meer.net
Sat Nov 13 08:35:29 UTC 1999
On Sat, 13 Nov 1999, Justin Wells wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 12, 1999 at 07:48:57PM -0800, Arandir wrote:
>
> > But attempting to pass your license on to someone *else's* code is a very
> > different thing. In the case of scripts, using CORBA objects, etc., you are
> > attempting to dictate to someone *else* how they should license the code they
> > wrote.
>
> Philosophically, this is not very different than dictating to someone else
> that they use my license when they include my code in their application.
> We've just changed the linking technology slightly, and then made the
> same statement.
Not at all. I'm assuming that your license would follow the typical free
software definition. If so, then I am not distributing, modifying, distributing
such modifications, or even *using* your source code. All I am doing is using
your binary in the manner in which it was intended.
Think about an off the wall example: a copylefted webpage. I would have to
follow the license if I used any of the html, java source, cgi scripts, etc, in
my own webpage, but other than a few wacko lawyers with nothing better to do,
it's perfectly fine for me to include a link to that site in mine.
> --> Is it possible to copyleft a Java program, at all? <--
>
> All Java classes link at runtime. Thus you could use any Java class in
> any program you like, and the result would not be subject to the GPL
> until the program is run. So distribution, copying, etc., would be
> unencumbered.
Absolutely! I've seen several GPL'd java programs. They exist, therefore it's
possible :-)
> I would like a license for which this is not true--one that allows me
> to impose the same kinds of terms on Java programs that people are
> used to imposing on C programs.
But java executables are fundamentally different than C executables. I'm not
a java expert, but it seems to me that they are meant to be distributed and run
differently. Trying to treat java like C would be like the post office trying
to sell stamps for email.
I would lighten up, and rest comfortably in the fact that no one can make your
java code "unfree".
--
Arandir...
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