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From: "Norman Vine" <nhv AT cape DOT com>
To: <cygwin AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com>
Subject: RE: Things you can do with Cygwin
Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 16:14:42 -0400
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DJ Delorie writes:
>
>> I would venture that legally you could link against a propriatary
>> DLL that you distributed separately ( and perhaps sold )
>> and still use Cygwin for the rest of the application.
>
>This is a grey area.  If your application ran properly without those
>proprietary dlls, and the API that is used to talk to those dlls is
>public, and other companies also produced dlls that could be used with
>your application, I'd probably agree that it's OK.  If your
>application didn't work without those DLLs and there were no other
>DLLs or applications that used that interface, I'd say it was still
>one work, and the GPL would apply to both components.
>
>The user should be able to start from source, and rebuild the "whole
>thing", without having to rely on binary modules to get a functioning
>application.

This 'grey area' is I suppose how it is legal for us to link to M$oft
libraries.

I have found this interpretation to be a place where the GPL actually limits
what I can give away.

FWIW
I am a major contributor to several GPL'd projects to include
http://www.flightgear.org and also a developer of commercial
mapping software.   I have of course modified my personal copy
of FlightGear to include my proprietary code and find it quite
frustrating, that since the project is GPL'd, I can not find away
to let others enjoy this 'enhanced version' with out giving
away the sources from which I make my living.

Regards

Norman Vine



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