🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <F6m0eB8w164w@mantis.co.uk>, 
mathew@mantis.co.uk (Lieutenant 030) writes:
> Hypothetical scenario:
> 
> I obtain a copy of GNU Emacs, and set about porting it to some new
> architecture Foo.  I identify all the functions which don't work for some
> reason on the new architecture, and document what they are supposed to
> do.
> 
> I then give the documents to a programmer, who writes a set of proprietary
> functions performing the appropriate tasks on our new architecture.
> 
> I modify the "free" GNU Emacs code to make it use external versions of
> the duff functions, and #ifdef out the duff ones (or just delete them).
> 
> I distribute this modified non-functional "Emacs library" under the terms of
> the GPL.  I sell my proprietary functions as "Emacs for Foo", supplying
> a small install program which links them with the "Emacs library" to create
> an executable.  I can even provide the "Emacs library" on the same disk.
> 
> I now have a port of Emacs to a new architecture.  I can sell it and
> prohibit redistribution.  People can demand the "Emacs library" source and
> can copy it freely, but it in fact is less useful than a plain old copy of
> GNU Emacs.
> 
> That's what I mean by "...I can completely bypass the GPL."

You can't do that.  The resulting program is clearly a derivative of GNU
Emacs, which is distributed under the GPL, which says that any derivative
programs must be licensed to all third parties for free, and that the complete
source code must either acompany the executable or be available for the cost of
distribution.

Now, if GNU Emacs was distributed under the LGPL (what is the proper acronym?),
the GNU Public *Library* License, you could do that.  It isn't.  The Library
License was intented to encourage use of GNU libraries, even to the point of
allowing their use in commercial software, as long as the user can change the
library and relink the program.

Don't confuse the GPL and the LGPL.   Applications are different from
Libraries. 
--
T. Kurt Bond, tkb@mtnet2.wvnet.edu  or  os360051@wvnvms.wvnet.edu