[mythtv-users] TapeWorm Beta 4 - new features, and now, fewer bugs!

Jay R. Ashworth jra at baylink.com
Thu Apr 6 16:26:25 UTC 2006


On Thu, Apr 06, 2006 at 12:19:04PM -0400, Jeff Simpson wrote:
> From that same GPL FAQ Page:
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLModuleLicense
> 
> If I add a module to a GPL-covered program, do I have to use the GPL
> as the license for my module?
>     The GPL says that the whole combined program has to be released
> under the GPL. So your module has to be available for use under the
> GPL.
> 
>     But you can give additional permission for the use of your code.
> You can, if you wish, release your program under a license which is
> more lax than the GPL but compatible with the GPL. The license list
> page gives a partial list of GPL-compatible licenses.
> 
> When you look at it that way, since this TapeWorm application works
> directly with MythTV, it can be considered a module (even though it is
> on a different computer, MythTV is already a multi-computer system)

You've misread it entire.

*If you _distribute_ a GPL'd program with your module incorporated into
it*, you have to license it under the GPL.

If you distribute a module which is in some way compatible with a GPL'd
program, but you do not distribute the program itself, I see no reason
why you should feel constrained in the license you apply to that module.

> > This is only a GPL violation if Myth code has directly been integrated
> > or used as a direct basis for a non-GPL application. Stopping this kind
> > of thing would be the same as stopping Samba, OOo .doc compatability,
> > and so on.
> 
> Good examples, and I wonder about that, too. At the same time, those
> are standalone applications. OpenOffice can edit its own documents and
> read word documents. It's not a plugin for Microsoft Word like
> TapeWorm is a plugin for MythTV. (not plugin in the myth sense of the
> word, but the more general sense of an add-on program).

And that matters, as well.

> I would never want to be somebody standing behind the logic that
> TapeWorm violates GPL, it's a very shaky conclusion, I was just
> putting it out there as GPL can be in some ways interpreted to mean
> that.

This is why lawyers make so much money.

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra at baylink.com
Designer                          Baylink                             RFC 2100
Ashworth & Associates        The Things I Think                        '87 e24
St Petersburg FL USA      http://baylink.pitas.com             +1 727 647 1274

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