2009/8/20 Ingo Weinhold <ingo_weinhold@xxxxxx>: > Back to the media codecs: They are loaded by libmedia and thus indirectly > by the program (at least there's no separate process). So when we > distribute a Haiku with such an add-on libmedia has to be GPLed. An > application using this libmedia would also have to be GPLed (unless it can > be considered a "major OS component"). > Since we could distribute a Haiku > without the GPL add-ons, libmedia would be purely MIT, which in turn would > pose no restrictions on application writers. So writing the application > against the MIT libmedia would still allow it to be closed source and used > with a GPL libmedia. This kind of sounds like working around the spirit of > the GPL, respectively why people distribute their code under the GPL. > > CU, Ingo > > Sorry but I can't get it. Consider the following scenario: - Someone writes a LGPL OS (A), with a LGPL media player, which accepts addons. - Someone (else) writes a closed source os (B) with a closed source media player, which uses the same addon interface as the above media player, and it's binary compatible to it. - A third person writes a closed source addon for the LGPL OS using GPL code, and provide a binary package only for A (and B indirectly) Should the writer of B be forced to provide the source code of B ? Or, since the third person can't provide the source of B, he isn't allowed to use the GPL code ?