revOnline and Open Source

[Richard Gaskin]

Dr. Hawkins wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 6:49 AM, Robert Mann <rman at free.fr> wrote:
>> On the frontier :: if the name of the author is not specified in the stack,
>> then it'll be hard to argue against common knowledge.
>
> That just isn't the law.
>
> Not in the US, and AFAIK, not any country subscribing to the Berne convention.
>
> *HOWEVER*, the GPL3 of the community version *DOES* infect executables
> created with the community version (it's license requires that the
> derivative work have the same license).

FWIW, the inventor of the GPL prefers "inherit" rather than "infect", 
since the GPL is a choice authors can make and "infect" has negative 
connotations that make that choice sound like an accident.

But this discussion raises a peripheral question:

How does the GPL3 used by the Community Edition affect libraries?

GPL3 distinguishes "dynamic linking" as not affected, while "static 
linking" explicitly inherits GPL freedoms.

The AGPL goes one step further to apply to the sort of "dynamic linking" 
in connections made by clients to servers, but in the LC world that 
usually only affects LiveCode Server and Kevin has already noted that he 
chose not to use AGPL for Server specifically to avoid encumbrance by 
clients.

For desktop LiveCode, can one build a library and license it under the 
GPL3-compatible LGPL for use in proprietary standalones as long as it 
remains a separate stack file?

Conversely, can one build a proprietary library and use it with the 
Community Edition (not password-protected, of course)?

There seems to be much variance over how to define "dynamically linked" 
and "derivative work".

For example, the Wordpress and Drupal project owners have both 
explicitly stated that they believe plugins and even themes constitute 
"derivative works" and therefore inherit GPL rights and responsibilities.

Yet even within those communities there are some who sell proprietary 
add-ons, to the best of my knowledge without legal intervention.

Where exactly is the line drawn with LC libraries when distributed as 
separate stack files?

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World
  LiveCode training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com
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