[Rd] Sligthly OT Re: Makefile for embedding OpenBUGS in R package

[Hin-Tak Leung]

Andrew Clausen wrote:
> Hi Hin-Tak,
> 
> On Tue, Aug 07, 2007 at 01:10:36AM +0100, Hin-Tak Leung wrote:
>> GPL-licensed code dlopen()'ing proprietary-licensed binary-only DLL/so
>> is allowed
> 
> Do you have any evidence?  (eg: something written on www.fsf.org?)
> 
> As far as I know, the normal grounds for allowing GPL code to link with
> proprietary code is the text
> 
> "However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not include
> anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with
> the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on
> which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies the
> executable."

I don't - but openbugs (if you assume it to be the 'major' component)
is certainly not part of the OSes on which the resulting executable
runs.

Consider a few well-known applications in the x86 linux world
for loading binary-only windows DLLs - e.g. ndiswrapper, mplayer.
They distribute the different licensed components separately, or ask the
users to get it elsewhere.

*Re-distribution* (not usage of) of components bundling together
having different re-distributing licensing terms is a sticky matter.

Hin-Tak
P.S. I don't know if the original poster has any intention of
distributing his package for others to use; but having parts of his 
package distributed binary-only and also under a different and
more restrictive license term can be sticky.