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Encyclopedia > GPL linking exception
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Some free software projects, notably GNU Guile,[1] the run-time libraries of GNAT,[1] and GNU Classpath,[2] distribute code under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) but with an additional section known as the GPL linking exception. Image File history File links Circle-question. ... Clockwise from top: The logo of the GNU Project (the GNU head), the Linux kernel mascot Tux the Penguin, and the FreeBSD daemon Free software is a term coined by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation[1] to refer to software that can be used, studied, and modified without... The GNU Guile logo GNU Guile (first released in 1993[1]) is an interpreter/virtual machine for the Scheme programming language and modularized extensions thereof (such as POSIX system call extensions or APL array functionality, packaged as a object[2] library (libguile) so that it can be embedded in other... The term gnat is applied as a colloquial name to any of various small insects in the order Diptera and specifically within the suborder Nematocera. ... GNU Classpath is a project aiming to create a free implementation of the standard class library for the Java programming language. ... The GNU logo The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a widely-used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. ...

Contents

Examples

The text used in the GNU Classpath project is as follows:

Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is making a combined work based on this library. Thus, the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License cover the whole combination.
As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that module. An independent module is a module which is not derived from or based on this library. If you modify this library, you may extend this exception to your version of the library, but you are not obliged to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement from your version.

When this exception is included, software licensed like this can be linked with any software, free or not.


This license is very close to the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). The differences are that the LGPL says that programs using the library must be licensed under: GNU logo The GNU Lesser General Public License (formerly the GNU Library General Public License) is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation. ...

... terms of your choice, provided that the terms permit modification of the work for the customer's own use and reverse engineering for debugging such modifications.

and

Accompany the work with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code for the Library including whatever changes were used in the work (which must be distributed under Sections 1 and 2 above); and, if the work is an executable linked with the Library, with the complete machine-readable "work that uses the Library", as object code and/or source code, so that the user can modify the Library and then relink to produce a modified executable containing the modified Library.

These limits on the extra permissions are unacceptable to some developers.


Projects using this license

The GNU Classpath project aim to create a free software implementation of the standard class library for the Java programming language. The use of the linking exception permits static linking of ahead-of-time compiled non-free Java programs built on the libraries provided by GNU Classpath without the re-linking requirement of the LGPL.[3] Java is a programming language originally developed by Sun Microsystems and released in 1995. ...


Compiler runtime libraries also often use this license, e.g. the libgcc library in the GNU Compiler Collection uses a very similar linking exception.[4] and also all libraries of the Free Pascal project are. The GNU Compiler Collection (usually shortened to GCC) is a set of programming language compilers produced by the GNU Project. ... The FreePascal IDE for Linux. ...

The factual accuracy of this article or section may be compromised due to out-of-date information.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page

Sun Microsystems have declared that they will release the Java Standard Edition project under the GPL v2 license plus the linking exception from Classpath. As of end of 2006, they have already released two parts of the JRE and JDK under this license: HotSpot Virtual machine and the javac compiler.[5] NetBeans now too. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Java Platform, Standard Edition or Java SE is a widely used platform for programming in the Java language. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... JRE can mean Java programming language Justin Reese This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Java Development Kit (JDK) is a Sun product aimed at Java developers. ... HotSpot is the primary Java Virtual Machine for desktops and servers produced by Sun Microsystems. ... In computer science, a virtual machine is software that creates a virtualized environment between the computer platform and its operating system, so that the end user can operate software on an abstract machine. ... In computing, a Java compiler is a computer program that translates programs in Java to Java byte-code. ...


Many free software libraries which are distributed under the GPL use an equivalent exception, although the wording of the exception varies. The published drafts of version 3 of the LGPL are likewise constructed as exception to the GPL.[6]


See also

Free software Portal

Image File history File links Portal. ... The GNU logo The GNAT Modified General Public License (short: Modified GPL, MGPL) is a version of the GNU General Public License specificly modified for the generic feature found in the Ada programming language. ... The OpenSSL exception is a clause added to the GNU General Public License (GPL) by free software developers who want to use OpenSSL with their software. ... A free software licence is a software licence which grants recipients rights to modify and redistribute the software which would otherwise be prohibited by copyright law. ...

External Links

  • Linux and the Law

References

  1. ^ a b Stallman, Richard. Various Licenses and Comments about Them. Free Software Foundation. 2007-05-17. Retrieved on 2007-05-18.
  2. ^ Classpath::License. Free Software Foundation. [[2007]-04-23. Retrieved on 2007-05-18.
  3. ^ http://developer.classpath.org/pipermail/classpath/2006-March/000396.html
  4. ^ http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/*checkout*/gcc/gcc/gcc/libgcc2.c?rev=1.143.4.3&content-type=text/plain
  5. ^ http://www.sun.com/software/opensource/java/project_overview.jsp
  6. ^ Guide to the second draft of LGPLv3. 2007-04-03. Retrieved on 2007-05-10.

  Results from FactBites:
 
GPL linking exception - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (223 words)
Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is making a combined work based on this library.
If you modify this library, you may extend this exception to your version of the library, but you are not obliged to do so.
With this exception, software licensed like this can be linked with any software, free or not.
FSF - Frequently Asked Questions about the GNU GPL (13191 words)
The GPL requires the maker of a version to place his or her name on it, to distinguish it from other versions and to protect the reputations of other maintainers.
However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies the executable.
As a special exception, if you create a document which uses this font, and embed this font or unaltered portions of this font into the document, this font does not by itself cause the resulting document to be covered by the GNU General Public License.
  More results at FactBites »


 
 

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