Re: Mail hacking?
Re: Mail hacking?
- Subject: Re: Mail hacking?
- From: Kyle Moffett <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 22:05:05 -0500
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On Oct 30, 2003, at 21:51, Wade Tregaskis wrote:
Yes, but the problem is that no matter how you look at it the GPL
really is "viral", as it has been described by some extremists - if I
use GPL code, the rest of my code has to become GPL'd too. Sure, I
could use LGPL and segment my system into dozens of parts, making it a
nightmare just to build the thing let alone use it...
I personally prefer to separate my code into several distinct libraries
that perform clearly defined tasks. On the other hand, that is
completely up to you.
I don't want to instigate a flame war or political argument - the GPL
is all good and well if you like the GPL, and may even be using it
already. But in my case I disagree with it's fundamental aims, so I
continue to use the BSD license, and reinvent the wheel.. :(
That's your personal prerogative, and you are free to stand for what
you feel is right. My point is that many programmers will not produce
as much (if any) open-source code without the current strictly defined
GPL, and it is better to have that code available than not at all.
What I'm not entirely sure about is where I would stand by looking at
the source of a GPL'd program, effectively reverse engineering it,
then rewriting it entirely from scratch based only on the
specification I derived. I doubt I could do so, but I'm not a lawyer
and I find that software licenses actually don't specify important
scenario's like this (e.g. I was just looking at one of the Creative
Common's licenses, and it never actually states what licensing
restrictions it places on derivative works).
This is kind of muddy water, but here are some basic points:
If you just want to use the algorithms or ideas in the work, it is
perfectly legal.
If you want to simulate the interface, and see how they do it, then go
write your own, it is legal as long as your code bears no resemblance
to theirs
If you duplicate the exact API for compatibility reasons, that is fine
too, for the most part people are free to link a program with whatever
libraries they want.
If your code closely resembles theirs, then it is probably not ok.
Cheers,
Kyle Moffett
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