🚀 go-pugleaf

consp04@bingsunp.bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu (Dan Boyd) writes:
> In article <F6m0eB8w164w@mantis.co.uk>
> mathew@mantis.co.uk (Lieutenant 030) writes:
> > Hypothetical scenario:
> [procedure deleted, essentially a clean-room approach to porting,
>  distributing the ported Emacs as diffs to GNU source]
> > I now have a port of Emacs to a new architecture.  I can sell it and
> > prohibit redistribution.  
> 
> No, you can't.  See Section 2.b) of the GNU General Public License:
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of
> it, and copy and distribute such modifications under the terms of
> Paragraph 1 above, provided that you also do the following:
> 
>     a) [...]
> 
>     b) cause the whole of any work that you distribute or publish,
>     that in whole or in part contains the Program or any part thereof,
>     either with or without modifications, to be licensed at no charge
>     to all third parties under the terms of this General Public
>     License (except that you may choose to grant warranty protection
>     to some or all third parties, at your option).

But my program does not contain GNU Emacs or any part thereof, either with
or without modifications.  It merely requires the user to own a copy of
GNU Emacs which it can call, just like NeXT's OS requires the user to own
a copy of gcc if he's going to be able to use their software development
tools.


mathew

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