Re: (L)GPLv3

[Alan Cox <alan lxorguk ukuu org uk>]

On Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:01:54 +0200
Steve Frécinaux <nudrema gmail com> wrote:

> On 07/06/2010 03:00 PM, Ryan Lortie wrote:
> > hi Vincent,
> >
> > On Tue, 2010-07-06 at 09:26 +0200, Vincent Untz wrote:
> >> Do you feel okay with the idea of allowing proprietary apps to use our
> >> platform but not GPLv2 apps?
> >
> > In short, yes.
> 
> Can't the platform libraries of gnome be considered as a development 
> platform, and therefore being legally "linkable" from a GPL2 point of 
> view, even if the library itself is LGPL?
> 
> I mean, I think exceptions exist in GPL to allow programs to link 
> against proprietary platform libraries, to allow some GPL software to 
> run in proprietary MacOS or Microsoft ecosystems, don't they? Our own 
> equivalent of those libraries are glib and gtk+
> 
> This would make things a lot simpler.

No because the FSF also very carefully made sure you couldn't claim it
while distributing such libraries. Which means from a distro perspective
its not a brilliant plan - or indeed a Gnome one. You might create an
environment in which only non GNOME apps could pull that stunt !