Re: [Mingw-users] Including GDI+ in MinGW
Doug Schaefer wrote:
> Keith Marshall wrote:
>> The GPL requires you to distribute full source, to allow an end user to
>> rebuild your application from scratch. If part of that source resides
>> in headers which you do not have the right to redistribute, how can you
>> possibly comply with the GPL, without infringing the EULA of those
>> headers?
>
> Actually with that argument, GPL would be restrict you from building
> against any proprietary C run-time including Solaris, AIX, etc. So I'm
> not sure this is actually restricted. But then I could be missing
> something. At either rate, GPL apps do not redistribute all the headers
> they use, of course.
The question is, do the GDI+ libraries meet the requirements of the
"system library" exception in the GPL. If it does, then I don't think
it matters what EULA applies to the headers, as far as the GPL is
concerned. (Sure, *we* can't redistribute the GDI+ headers, but neither
are the gcc folks allowed to redistribute the /usr/include/sys/ headers
for HP/UX)
But IANAL.
BTW, it looks like the GPLv3 relaxed the definition of "System Library"
compared to GPLv2. According to the GPL FAQ:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WindowsRuntimeAndGPL
======================
I'm writing a Windows application with Microsoft Visual C++ (or Visual
Basic) and I will be releasing it under the GPL. Is dynamically linking
my program with the Visual C++ (or Visual Basic) run-time library
permitted under the GPL?
The GPL permits this because that run-time library normally
accompanies the compiler or interpreter you are using. The run-time
libraries here are “System Libraries” as GPLv3 defines them, and as such
they are not considered part of the Corresponding Source. GPLv2 has a
similar [ed: similar, but not identical] exception in section 3.
======================
I wonder if this impacts some of the recent discussions we've had
concerning linking against the msvcrtXX.dll runtimes? Sure, you can't
redistribute the dll itself, *yourself*, without a VisStudio license --
but you could, if I'm reading the faq above correctly, compile GPL apps
against the msvcrtXX.dll, and instruct users to go get the redistXX
package from MS themselves -- all without violating either the GPL or
MS's eula.
--
Chuck
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