GPL and closed source

[Dave J Woolley]

> From:	Carlo Wood [SMTP:carlo at alinoe.com]
> 
> Selling closed source plugins wouldn't be illegal anyway,
> but wouldn't it be illegal for the buyers to link the bought
> plugins with the GPL-ed opensource?  If so then that means that
> 
My impression was that the FSF only really cared about 
re-distribution, so the real issue would be with the 
fact that the proprietory plug-in might have to be linked
against a copy of the shared library by the supplier, 
a borderline case, needing a real lawyer.  My impression is
the whole area is sufficiently borderline to require
a real lawyer.

There are precedents for GPLed containers running proprietory
code, e.g. the Linux HP Desk Jet drivers (this might be LGPL).
The proprietory part is not linked - I think the communication
is either through pipes or through sockets.
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>