Hi Lewis,
Read all of the answer to the last question at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#NFUseGPLPlugins and consider: If the act of loading and executing a plugin that just runs to
completion and returns a result is regarded as "borderline" but just about acceptable, and communicating with one via shared memory is equivalent to dynamic linking, then any additional communication between a main program and a plugin, say through an I/O
stream, is almost certainly to be on the wrong side of borderline.
I may be splitting hairs, but someone reading that using fork & exec to invoke a GPL plugin can free the program from the GPL's restrictions may start them thinking about using that to subvert the GPL and not realize that they're on a slippery slope to
probable infringement.
- Andrew
--
Sent from my iPad
On 10/23/14 2:58 AM, Johnson, Andrew N. wrote:
On Oct 23, 2014, at 00:07, J. Lewis Muir <[email protected]> wrote:
See:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLAndPlugins
To me, that supports what I said.
Read the following FAQ points as well, there are subtle distinctions
between whether your main application is GPL or your plugin is GPL,
and I think the example you pointed to was for a non-GPL plugin to a
GPL application.
Hi, Andrew.
Hmm...I don't see the subtle distinctions. I see distinctions for
linking and whatnot, but I don't see distinctions for the "fork and
exec" case. I very much so respect your opinion on this, so I'd really
like to understand. There are three FAQ questions that talk about
plug-ins and they all start with a paragraph that says there are no
special requirements if the program uses fork and exec to invoke the
plug-ins. Here are the three questions and the first paragraph of each
answer:
* If I write a plug-in to use with a GPL-covered program, what
requirements does that impose on the licenses I can use for
distributing my plug-in?
It depends on how the program invokes its plug-ins. If the program
uses fork and exec to invoke plug-ins, then the plug-ins are separate
programs, so the license for the main program makes no requirements
for them.
* Can I apply the GPL when writing a plug-in for a non-free program?
If the program uses fork and exec to invoke plug-ins, then the
plug-ins are separate programs, so the license for the main program
makes no requirements for them. So you can use the GPL for a plug-in,
and there are no special requirements.
* Can I release a non-free program that's designed to load a GPL-covered
plug-in?
It depends on how the program invokes its plug-ins. For instance, if
the program uses only simple fork and exec to invoke and communicate
with plug-ins, then the plug-ins are separate programs, so the license
of the plug-in makes no requirements about the main program.
So, I'm not getting it. What am I missing?! Thanks for your patience.
Regards,
Lewis
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