License Wars MEGA THREAD (now with GPL!)

[Face]

I'm curious. Why is it exactly you think that a GPL project can't list a non-GPL project as a dependency?

I'm not Urwumpe, of course, but I think he meant that not in terms of dependency, but in terms of linking with libraries. With UMMu, you had to link in Dan's library in order to use all the features. I think oMMu will work in the same way: a closed-source lib you have to link with your code. AFAIK, this is a rather undisputed problem in GPL projects, much in contrast to the other "direction": linking with Orbiter.

 

[Urwumpe]

I'm curious. Why is it exactly you think that a GPL project can't list a non-GPL project as a dependency?

Its not about non-GPL, but rather about non-FOSS. Its about that aspect:

https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#FSWithNFLibs

As said, its primarily a matter of intent of course (Why making it open-source, if it depends on a closed-source component, that is not part of the system it is supposed to run under?), but there are also legal contradictions occurring then, that I would allow discussions, that I would prefer to not have in first place. I get a bad headache from legal discussions.

A way further down in the FAQ is a short rundown about the legal aspects and how they tried to solve them in GPL v3. Again: It gives me a bad headache, and I prefer to avoid it.


Also, its a matter of distinction to which major components we would be using under GPLV3:

The “System Libraries” of an executable work include anything, other than the work as a whole, that (a) is included in the normal form of packaging a Major Component, but which is not part of that Major Component, and (b) serves only to enable use of the work with that Major Component, or to implement a Standard Interface for which an implementation is available to the public in source code form. A “Major Component”, in this context, means a major essential component (kernel, window system, and so on) of the specific operating system (if any) on which the executable work runs, or a compiler used to produce the work, or an object code interpreter used to run it.

As such, its easy to declare Orbiter a major component of our runtime environment, since obviously, an add-on would not run without access to the simulation engine.

 

[Face]

As said, its primarily a matter of intent of course (Why making it open-source, if it depends on a closed-source component, that is not part of the system it is supposed to run under?), but there are also legal contradictions occurring then, that I would allow discussions, that I would prefer to not have in first place. I get a bad headache from legal discussions.

Agreed. Especially on the last sentence. That's why I think it would be better to have PAX/SFX GPL-libs for GPL addons, but well...

 

[Urwumpe]

Agreed. Especially on the last sentence. That's why I think it would be better to have PAX/SFX GPL-libs for GPL addons, but well...

Again, I absolutely agree there. Especially since it reduces the chance that the work on the PAX/SFX module for the add-on stops when the only developer is hit by a meteor... Of course, there are also many open-source projects that die with an important developer going away. (See Lua's fate)