Re: Applying the GPL to Artwork

["Stephan Arts" <stephan xfce org>]

On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 8:24 AM, Yevgen Muntyan <muntyan tamu edu> wrote:
> Hey,
>
>  I have a problem with the following:
>
>  Thomas Wood wrote:
>  ...
>
>
>  > Run Time Substitution
>  > ---------------------
>  >
>  > If the icon is not required to allow the application to function (i.e.
>  > can be substituted at run time and is not distributed with the
>  > application) then the license does not apply. For example, this means
>  > that users would not be violating the GPL if a proprietary application
>  > uses a GPL icon theme.
>  >
>  > However, if a non-GPL application references an icon name from
>  > gnome-icon-theme, this should be considered as linking (as described
>  > above).
>
>
>  The first and the second paragraphs are not mutually
>  exclusive. I have this LGPL-ed application which has code
>  like this:
>
>  create_named_icon (icon_theme, widget, size, pixel_size, GTK_STOCK_HOME,
>                                       "user-home", "gnome-fs-home",
>  "folder_home", NULL);
>
>  It will work without gnome icon theme, yet it references
>  "gnome-fs-home" name. Am I violating GPL here?

That would be silly, there is no way of knowing if the icon is
licensed under the GPL or any other license. You just request some
icon which follows that naming convention.

In short, if that would violate the GPL, it would kill foss.

>
>  Best regards,
>  Yevgen

Regards,
Stephan