kdelibs and the GPL

[Andreas Pour]

Anders Lund wrote:
> 
> On Wednesday 19 June 2002 00:57, Dominique Devriese wrote:
> (...)
> > d) these are GPL: some of them are plugins: i don't really know what
> > the deal is with plugins, but it seems they are allowed to be GPL...
> > Anyone knows if this is ok, or not ?
> 
> I'd like to know that as well.

Hiya,

IMHO depends on how strictly you read the GPL.  The FSF position, though
perhaps incoherent, appears to be that you can link an LGPL library
(such as glibc) against both GPL and proprietary applications at the
same time.

A program which links with kdelibs does not, as a general matter, link
with the plugins, and so, it would seem, the plugin license has no
bearing on the program.  However, if the program was written such that
it does not work without the plugin, or specifically relies on it, then
all bets are off.

Ciao,

Dre
Speaking as a layperson