hi
Frank Barknecht wrote:
Hallo,
What I don't understand at all about http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#IfInterpreterIsGPL is this:
The FAQ-answer first states, that I'm not obliged to put the GPL or anything compatible on an interpreted program, even if the interpreter is GPL, because my interpreted program is "just data" to the interpreter.
But then later it says, that if I'm using some modules of that interpreted language, that are GPL, in my "just data"-program, I'm suddenly obliged to use GPL or compatible.
i don't quite understand your problem (but probably i am oversimplifying things)
the "modules" in question are not extensions to the interpreter but extensions for the patch.
imo, an extension to pd itself (which will NOT influence the license of the patch, because of the "IfInterpreterIsGPL" issue), would for example be a plugin that would allow for spline patch chords. such a feature would add nothing to the functionality of the patch itself, though it might make patches prettier (or not;-)) and it might increase your productivity in general (e.g. when you created the patch). however, the patch itself is not really touched by such an extension.
another example (this time from the real world) _might_ be the features added to core-pd in the pd-extended distribution: i am NOT talking about the added libraries! but about things like the libpath hack and the like. while these hacks might be GPL'ed, they would not affect a patch created with such a version of pd.
another example: if you were using a library which provides gui elements for pd (like iemgui, ...) and your patch is "artistic per se" (this is: the patch looks pretty enough to be considered artistic), then the artwork would not need to be covered by the GPL (like when you create an image with the gimp) no i don't want to start a discussion about when a patch starts to be an artwork by itself nor about art at all.
I mean, if the interpreter is GPL and I'm not bound by its terms, then why is is, that if I'm using some GPL's extensions of that interpreter, that I'm now bound to the GPL?
because it is not an extension to the interpreter but to the program.
btw, as we all know, Pd is NOT released under GPL but under a "free to evil" :-) license. this license does not apply to patches as long as only the interpreter "Pd" is used. this license applies (imo) to patches as soon as you use Pd core objects that are not to be seen as "part of the language" (whatever these are); luckily Pd's licence is so free that you can as you like.
How comes, that my "just data" program now became more than "just data"?
for the interpreter Pd, your patch is "just data", like C-code is "just data" for a compiler. it ceases to be "just data", when it is run (by the interpreter), because then it becomes instructions.
btw, [expr] is an interpreter by itself. the [expr]essions need not be covered by the GPL. so if you have patented a new algorithm and want to put it into a pd-patch which is using [expr], you could write your algorithm as an [expr] expression without violating the GPL.
I mean, I'm not opposed to using the GPL, as you all should know by now, but: I just don't get it!?
i think it would be good, if we could ask a lawyer at FSF for a definitive answer. therefore we would need to set up a description of the problem to which we all agree (e.g. can a patch be considered a program at all)
mfg.asdr. IOhannes