On Fri, Apr 07, 2006 at 04:16:18PM -0700, Chris Travers wrote:
> By this interpretation, coding a connector against UNIX ODBC would be
> OK, but the user would be forbidden to use ODBC drivers that link
> against OpenSSL. I cannot therefore imagine a circumstance where the
> parent GPL application could be considered a dirivative work.
>
> Indeed indirect linking is a pretty common GPL dodge, given NVidia's
> approach to drivers.
Please keep in mind that this has nothing to do with what users can or
cannot do. The GPL is a *distribution* licence. It says, in no
uncertain terms, that GPL programs must come with complete source of
themselves and all dependancies under terms compatible with the GPL.
The advertising clause in OpenSSL is not acceptable.
Hence, Debian *as a distribution* cannot distribute precompiled
binaries (freeradius) that would cause a GPL program to depend on code
that cannot be distributed on compatable terms. People are ofcourse
free to download the source themselves, they're just not allowed to
distribute the resulting binaries.
The issue is that installing freeradius-postgresql would install
OpenSSL on the user's machine because libpq requires it. That's what's
wrong with your example, the ODBC connector doesn't depend on OpenSSL
so programs using it don't either.
Did anyone notice the last few lines of the freeradius copyright file?
It lists the modules in freeradius that directly or indirectly depend on
OpenSSL and thus cannot be distributed *in precompiled form*.
http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/main/f/freeradius/freeradius_1.1.0-1.1/freeradius.copyright
> BTW, does this also mean that no GNU Readline is available in the Debian
> versions of psql? Or am I missing something?
What has this to do with anything? We're talking about libpq depending
on a GPL incompatable library, which GNU Readline obviously isn't.
Have a nice day,
--
Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog@svana.org> http://svana.org/kleptog/
> Patent. n. Genius is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. A patent is a
> tool for doing 5% of the work and then sitting around waiting for someone
> else to do the other 95% so you can sue them.