License question

[Robert Knight]

Hi,

> distribute both Konqueror and any 
> NPAPI proprietary/closed plugins (e.g. Adobe/Macromedia Flash)?

Typically they are not distributed together.  Konqueror is provided in one package which 
can be installed or run on its own without Flash present.  The Flash plugin is then provided separately
(usually from a different source).  When running Konqueror with the flash plugin present it will be
loaded as necessary.  The decision on whether or not to combine the two is up to the user. 
As far as I can see the logic would be pretty similar to that of closed kernel modules.  
For the same reasons some distributions (eg. Fedora) do not make Flash available from their official repositories.

In any case, this is probably not the best place to ask.  KDE only provides the source code for Konqueror and
nspluginviewer.  The kind souls who work hard to put it all together (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, SuSE et. al) will have 
a much better understanding of any legal issues that come up.  

Regards,
Robert.

On Mon, 2008-04-14 at 10:41 -0700, Stephen Lau wrote:
> Hi,
> (I'm not subscribed to the list, so please include me on any replies if 
> possible... thanks!)
> 
> I have a license question re: NPAPI plugins and distribution of them 
> with Konqueror.  If Konqueror is GPL'd, how can distributors (e.g. 
> Linux, BSD, OpenSolaris distributions) distribute both Konqueror and any 
> NPAPI proprietary/closed plugins (e.g. Adobe/Macromedia Flash)?
> 
>  From my understanding of NPAPI and the reading of the GNU GPL FAQ here: 
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLAndPlugins
> it seems like this would cause a GPL violation, since the NPAPI 
> interface is certainly more than just a dumb fork/exec or a 
> limited-`main` invocation.
> 
> Not trying to raise any issues, just a genuine concern from the point of 
> view of anyone wanting to distribute Konqueror + Flash.  IANAL, so it's 
> completely possible I'm missing something obvious, and would welcome any 
> thoughts/opinions/re-education.
> 
> cheers,
> steve
>