Qt and the GPL

David Johnson david at usermode.org
Wed Sep 6 03:14:16 UTC 2000


On Tue, 05 Sep 2000, kmself at ix.netcom.com wrote:

> > > No.  BSD, MIT, Artistic, and LGPL are all convertible to GPL.  You'd
> > > leave out those people who were using these licenses to interoperate
> > > with software licensed under non-GPL terms as a single work.
> > 
> > Hmmm, this isn't how I understand it. One can link from a GPL
> > application to a BSD library, but not from a BSD application to a GPL
> > library. This is because the application is a derivative of the
> > library according to the GPL, and all derivatives of GPL code have to
> > be GPL as well. 
> 
> The BSD SW would convert to GPL, which is allowable if it doesn't
> contain the advertising clause.

Okay, followup question. If a BSD application automatically converts to
the GPL by linking to a GPL library, can the application still be
distributed under the BSD license? Second follow up. Does this mean
that another party can change my license to the GPL against my wishes
by merely linking my code to a GPL library? I thought (and still
believe) that only the copyright holder can change the license.

-- 
David Johnson
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