Does a code inherit GNU GPL if it just link to GPL library?

Posted by user14284 on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by user14284
Published on 2012-12-11T16:33:02Z Indexed on 2012/12/11 23:14 UTC
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Sorry for bad English.

Suppose there is a library xxx under GNU GPL, that provide a function yyy. Suppose my code links to the library and use this function. Does my code inherit GPL license?

IANAL, but my thoughts are conflicting:

  • On one hand, my code is derivative from the library, so it should inherit GPL.
  • On other hand, my code just use link to the xxx. Maybe there are other libraries, that has the same interface (particularly, they provide yyy function with same functionality, but different implementation). My code may link to any. My code really doesn't directly derived from xxx, it just use its interface. So, my code shouldn't inherit GPL.

I'm confused.

ADDED. The question is absolutely abstract. I don't mean any concrete GPL library.

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