David Elliott dfe@tgwbd.org writes:
The crypto part of ADVAPI32 was the example I used. Let's
say I were
to write a CryptoAPI implementation as a set of seperate
source files.
With the LGPL I could compile all of that stuff and refer to it as a library. What is a library? I would say one or more object files linked together form a library. I could then take my CryptoAPI library, link it with the rest of Wine's ADVAPI32 and distribute a libadvapi32.so that could be dropped into a wine install.
If it is a completely separate library that doesn't contain portions that are derivative work of ADVAPI32, then yes you can do that. But you cannot for instance decide to reimplement CreateWindow and not release it simply by putting it into a separate file, which was what Patrik suggested; because your new CreateWindow will necessarily use internal functions and variables of USER32, and thus would be considered a derivative work.
It takes more that use to be considered a derived work, but the doctrine of derived work is central to the discussion.
One thing that is very important to note is copyright only protects expression not fact or ideas. In this case we are talking about use which I guess is better to talk about in terms of functionality.
Functionality on the other lies closer to fact or ideas than to expression so I would consider it doubtful for the courts to extend the doctrine of derived work to protect this.
On Mon, 17 Dec 2001, Patrik Stridvall wrote:
[snip technicalities]
Functionality on the other lies closer to fact or ideas than to expression so I would consider it doubtful for the courts to extend the doctrine of derived work to protect this.
Patrik,
The more I read your posts, the less I understand what you are trying to say. You argued over many hundreds of lines over weird technical details and various dubious assumptions about what courts will do in the future.
Stop for a movement and tell me: are you against the letter or the spirit of the LGPL. The spirit is simple:
Here is this thing, we give it to you for free, use it for your own benefit however you see fit. But it's a labor of love, and many people put thousands and thousand of hours in it, together with their hearts and souls. As such, they hold it dear, and they want it to survive, and thrive. All we ask is: if you've made _small_ improvements to it, to make it useful to your purpose, please contribute those back such that our baby can grow and develop together with your business.
Note that I said "_small_ improvements" because of the modular nature of Wine. If the improvements are big, the DLL separation would allow them to keep those changes proprietary.
I fail to see _any_ moral/ethical/philosophical problem with this. Do you?
-- Dimi.
-
Dimitrie O. Paun -
Patrik Stridvall