[Sussex] [From Debian-uk] Sun through the Looking Glass

[Geoff Teale]

So Steve asked:

>Question for those how have the ear of a lawyer :-)
>
>If Sun release Looking Glass under the GPL aren't Sun required by the 
>GPL to GPL the libraries that it depends upon too?
>
>  
>
Do you mean me? ;-)

This is quite simple - if you make a library GPL then those who link to 
it must also be GPL.  However, GPL code can make use of non-GPL code 
happily - if it couldn't then you would never be able to run  a GPL app 
on a proprietary system - afterall how many apps do you know that don't 
at some level link to each platforms equivalent of glibc ?

GPL _may_ be viral but it doesn't flow upstream.

-- 
Geoff