[sldev] [META] GPL'd APIs (Re: Protocol Documentation)

[Callum Lerwick]

On Wed, 2007-10-03 at 18:48 -0500, Argent Stonecutter wrote:
> > On 10/3/07 3:18 PM, Argent Stonecutter wrote:
> >> There have been specific cases where independently developed
> >> components that implemented the same API as a GPLed program have been
> >> hit with legal action by the FSF, on the grounds that by
> >> interoperating with an API that was part of a GPLed program they were
> >> derived works and are thus covered by the GPL... even if there was no
> >> GPLed code in them. There was no "huge amount of cutting and pasting"
> >> involved... according to the FSF simply using an API documented in a
> >> GPLed source makes your code covered by the GPL.

No, you're wrong. Allow you to correct yourself:

> The basic principle, that using the API of a GPLed component required  
> that your code be GPLed if it was distributed, has not been  
> changed... what changed is that creating a second implementation that  
> provided the same API meant that t he API wasn't *just* an API for a  
> GPLed application any more.

This is not even directly addressing the issue of looking at GPL code to
duplicate its API. But given that this issue was *resolved* by cloning
the API of a GPL library, this to me strongly implies that duplicating
an API implemented in GPL code is an okay thing to do.

(Not that that's really even the issue. We're talking about looking at
GPL code that *utilizes* an RPC mechanism implemented elsewhere. And as
I fully expect the libsecondlife guys to remain on top of things, well
there's your secondary, BSD licensed implementation. :)

So there's no problem here. Can we stop wasting our time spreading
anti-GPL FUD now? If you want to argue about the GPL go do it on
Groklaw. ;P
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