Practical ways around the GPL?

Posted by Daniel on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Daniel
Published on 2010-03-28T19:32:42Z Indexed on 2010/03/28 19:43 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 270

Filed under:

gpl

|

ethics

|

software-development

My company makes an extremely specialized piece of software which costs a lot of money for those few who need it. On our current release we have no choice but to use a few libraries which are released only under the GPL.

Releasing the code is not an option and it would take months, if not years to implement the functionality the libraries provide.

What do companies do in this situation? Are there practical and legal ways around the GPL?

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about gpl

GPL code allowing non-GPL local copies of nondistributed code

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I have come across a book that claims that alterations and augmentations to GPL works can be kept close-source as long as these are not redistributed into the wild. Therefore, customizations of websites deriving from GPL packages need not be released under the GPL and developers can earn profit on… >>> More
Licensing software that uses GPL code with licenses other than GPL

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Let's say I write some code, which we'll call X. It uses some GPL code, let's call it library Y. Clearly I would have to release X with a GPL license. That's fine. My question is, can I additionally release X under a license such as MIT, so that if someone only wants X but not Y they don't need to… >>> More
Does using GCC specific builtins qualify as incorporation within a project?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I understand that linking to a program licensed under the GPL requires that you release the source of your program under the GPL as well, while the LGPL does not require this. The terminology of the (L)GPL is very clear about this. #include "gpl_program.h" means you'd have to license GPL, because… >>> More
"Integratable" but not "integrated" GPL

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
There has been much debate over whether or not merely linking to a piece of code makes it a derivative work. I know FSF says "yes", so according to them I can't dynamically link a non-GPL compatible program to a GPL library and distribute the whole. But I could do that for private use, as long as… >>> More
GPL: does one line of GPLed code make program a "derived work"

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I've recently run into some argument with a person that claims to be a lawyer (I have my suspicions about this not being completely true, though). As far as I know, copying even one line of code from GPLed program into proprietary body of code requires you to release the whole thing under GPL, if… >>> More

Related posts about ethics

The ethics of aggregating other peoples' content

as seen on SQL Blog - Search for 'SQL Blog'
Content theft Most of the recent - what I'll call - "discussions" about content aggregators have revolved around content theft. I'm not going to flip-flop on that topic: when you use someone else's work, you ask first, and if given the okay, you cite it. You can't take my blog article and post it… >>> More
Code of ethics for programmers ?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
what all are code of ethics for programmers ? >>> More
The programmer's code of ethics [closed]

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
what you think about the programmer's code of ethics ? >>> More
Ethics and Law of modified LGPL code deployment in a commercial software

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
First bit of the question: What are the legal requirements of LGPL code during the deployment of a commercial product? Software package should include LGPL licence file Anything else? Shall we add a line to our "software agreement text" where you need to click next in the installer ? Second bit… >>> More
Signing redistributed files

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
In order to submit a desktop application for the Windows 8 app store, you need to digitally sign any driver or .exe associated with the application. However, the application I was trying to submit contains several files that are redistributions of other companies' software, and some of these are not… >>> More