Re: [PHP4BETA] License concerns

On Tue, 20 Jul 1999, Rasmus Lerdorf wrote: > Guys, we are all agreeing here, just in slightly different words. Gergely > is saying that he can't distribute a Debian php package that includes any > GPL'ed code. I don't quite understand why gdbm was distributed inside the > Debian php3 package though, but this would be a case where the two would > have to be distributed separately. I don't see any big problem with this, > and I think this was all he was pointing out. libgdbm isnt linked statically into the php binary in Debian. But the GPL does not make difference between static and dynamic linking, the program as a whole is not just the binary, but the linked code, too. This is the purpose of the GPL: dont use a GPL library if you don't want to release code under the GPL... kind of a virus... this is what infected ncftp for example and in the end ncftp became GPL (links against libreadline). Do you want me to CC: RMS to confirm this ? :) Distributing a program which includes QPL code and linked against libgdbm (which is available as a separate package from debian) would be a violation of the GPL. Currently PHP is GPL so it is ok there. Greg