[stunnel-announce] What legal issues come up if I use GPL-incompatible libraries with GPL software?

• Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]

Dear Users,

I just noticed some people declare GPL license on stunnel patches.  Since
stunnel uses GPL license *with OpenSSL exception* (OpenSSL license is not
GPL-compatible), it cannot be distributed if it is linked against any GPL
code (patches, libraries) without this exception.

It is still legal to distribute stunnel with patches that use GPL license
with OpenSSL exception.  Such patches constitute forks of stunnel and will
*never* be accepted to my source tree.  Third party patches rarely meet my
quality criteria, but I occasionally accept patches released as public
domain or having their copyright ownership transferred to me.

Also see:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLIncompatibleLibs
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Fork_%28software_development%29

Mike

• Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]