GPL License Question

[Matthew Flaschen]

John Hancock wrote:
> Hi,I'd like to ask a question about a licensing issue. I have a
> proprietary app (foo) that ships with a GPL apps (bar and baz), as
> well as their source. When foo is installed it is setup to call bar
> and baz (separate binaries).

IANAL, but I think if they're completely separate binaries that just run
exec("/usr/bin/baz") or equivalent, it's mere aggregation.  Even if
there are command-line options, as long as you're coding to the
documented options (rather than using specific knowledge of baz's inner
workings), it should still be aggregations.

However, in general this is a very difficult issue.  If it's important
to you, you should see a lawyer.

Matt Flaschen