CORBA and the GPL (was Re: Can Java code EVER be GPLd, at all?)
Ean R . Schuessler
ean at novare.net
Mon Nov 22 01:15:02 UTC 1999
Java's RMI facility makes inter-process calls a bit more transparent
than CORBA. Since Java provides a platform neutral programming environment
it is possible to pass objects by value rather than by reference when
making a method call. This facility can make an remotely "linked" object
almost indifferentiable from a local one. Therefore, some GPL'd
infrastructure could be exported via the RMI mechanism and still retain
great utility.
This is why I use the LGPL for Java code, since it focuses on the stored
format of the source as opposed to its runtime mechanics. Additionally,
I am forced to work with commercial systems regularly and the LGPL is
well suited to that situation.
On Sun, Nov 21, 1999 at 05:51:04PM -0700, Richard Stallman wrote:
> It is possible to use CORBA to do something more or less equivalent
> to linking, but it is somewhat more painful. So the GPL will still
> be effective, even though not 100%, even if CORBA is never considered
> to make a combined program.
>
> The situation is practically the same in many Java programs,
>
> My understanding is that normal practice with Java is that programs
> link together dynamically. That is not analogous to CORBA. Of
> course, Java may have CORBA facilities or CORBA-like facilities.
>
> You might think it isn't a problem because, for efficiency purposes,
> someone wouldn't ordinarily do this--but CORBA optimizes things quite
> well when the target of a call and its caller are both inside the
> same process.
>
> When they are in the same process, that makes it more like linking.
>
> More generally, what you are discovering is that any definitive
> criterion based solely on the mechanism of communication is likely to
> give silly and arbitrary results. That's why I don't advocate a
> criterion of that kind.
>
--
___________________________________________________________________
Ean Schuessler An oderless programmer work-a-like
Novare International Inc. Silent and motionless
*** WARNING: This signature may contain jokes.
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