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Re: [Fsuk-manchester] Talking about non-free software on the list


From: Simon Ward
Subject: Re: [Fsuk-manchester] Talking about non-free software on the list
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:10:08 +0000
User-agent: Kaiten Mail


Bob Ham <address@hidden> wrote:

>Suppose there are two pieces of software, A and B.  If A depends on B
>and B is non-free then A is not free.

Ish. As pointed out in another post, A itself could be considered to be free. 
However, the dependency on non-free software presents a problem. You cannot 
have a free system with that dependency. It's the combination that is non-free. 
Ideally, we would write a free software replacement for B, since it is really B 
that is the problem. Don't forget, GCC was originally developed and could only 
be built in non-free environments, but it was still considered free software.

The GPL FAQ[1] has this to say on non-free library dependencies:

    "Can I write free software that uses non-free libraries? (#FSWithNFLibs)

    If you do this, your program won't be fully usable in a free environment. 
If your program depends on a non-free library to do a certain job, it cannot do 
that job in the Free World. If it depends on a non-free library to run at all, 
it cannot be part of a free operating system such as GNU; it is entirely off 
limits to the Free World."

Also worth reading is Free but Shackled - The Java Trap[2].

[1]: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#FSWithNFLibs
[2]: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/java-trap.html



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