GPL and Python modules.

[Robert Kern]

Tim Churches wrote:
> On Tue, 2004-10-26 at 09:29, Cliff Wells wrote:

[snip]

>>If this is true, I can't think of any way for a program to run on a
>>GPL'd system (such as Linux) without becoming GPL'd itself (Unless it
>>doesn't do any I/O or malloc any memory <wink>). 
> 
> 
> Yes. It seems to be them is some dissonance between these two positions:
> 
> "It is OK for a closed-source application to allocate memory on a system
> running the GPLed Linux kernel"
> 
> and
> 
> "It is not OK for a GPL-incompatible Python application to import GPLed
> code into the runtime namespace it is using."
> 
> I shudder to think what a judge and jury would make of such a
> distinction. 

I'm sure they would see the explicit exception made in the GPL:

"""
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.
"""

-- 
Robert Kern
rkern at ucsd.edu

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
  Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
   -- Richard Harter