[Kaffe] can the classpath project be used with Kaffe.

[Alex Nicolaou]

Moses DeJong wrote:

> What exactly are you basing this statement on? I am no lawyer but my
> impression of the GPL is that it does not allow any linking to code
> that is not also covered under the GPL (or equivilant license).
> 
> <SNIP FROM GPL>
> This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program
> into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library,
> you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary
> applications with the library. If this is what you want to do,
> use the GNU Library General Public License instead of this License.
> </SNIP FROM GPL>
[snip]

My interpretation is that the GPL doesn't allow distribution of a
derivative work which is linked with proprietary binaries, by means of
paragraph (2) which defines derivative works and requires them to be
licensed under GPL, with no allowance for an equivalent license. The
relevant wording is in 2b):

   b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, 
      that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the
      Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at 
      no charge to all third parties under the terms of this 
      License.

You can see it clearly if you read it like this, which I believe doesn't
change the meaning or intent of 2b) "You must cause any work that you
distribute ... that in whole or in part contains ... the program or any
part therof, to be licensed as a whole ... under the terms of this
License". 

So, if you write a Java program, compile it down, burn a CD with your
code and Kaffe, this clause requires your code to be GPL, because the
"work that you distribute" "in whole or in part contains ... the
program" (kaffe) and therefore must be "licensed as a whole ... under
the terms of this License.". If you do not distribute Kaffe with your
program you are not bound by this restriction. The license is about
distribution and modification only. If you say "Go to http://.../ to get
Kaffe to run my code" you can charge. Distribute them together and you
violate the license.

Since the LGPL is *not* "this license", you cannot distribute LGPL and
GPL code together, without bringing the LGPL code under the GPL license
in the process. This is expressly allowed by clause (3) of the LGPL
which begins "You may opt to apply the terms of the ordinary GNU General
Public License instead of this License to a given copy of the Library."

alex