[ale] Topic for discussion

[jknapka at kneuro.net (Joe Knapka)]

"Doug McNash" <dmcnash at charter.net> writes:

> >Does use of dlopen() == Linking?
> 
> Yes, next question?

>From a technical point of view, certainly. From a legal point of view,
things are unlikely to be so straightforward. (IANAL but) I don't
think that even for GPL purposes anyone* would want dlopen() == link,
for the following reason:

If you write a closed-source plugin for some proprietary program, and
then someone comes along and writes a GPL clone of that program, your
closed-source plugin will now "link" to the GPL'd clone. Do you want
this fact to force you to release your plugin code under the GPL?
Contrariwise, if you're the vendor of a closed-source program that
accepts plugins, do you want to prohibit GPL'd plugins for your
program? After all, loading one might constitute "linking to GPL'd
code".

* except RMS

Cheers,

-- Joe