From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from ring.crustytoothpaste.net (ring.crustytoothpaste.net [172.105.110.227]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 23D031459F3 for ; Thu, 16 May 2024 15:15:29 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.client-ip=172.105.110.227 ARC-Seal:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1715872532; cv=none; b=lgHmicFNURvGsDbWEJk71IarqGLPaVZP7EQ7BWJ91qTpJfTJdknRDHpUdrTn+9Lpv36KCDshRDOe8KiKnzu8TtH1AdksxUybgnZUNoP8IvkCu6EKg0qai2bzGSh7bbytI6tJ04/LHu/vZJ9PE3sXapkIfkNHCYI/FTYGig2o+zY= ARC-Message-Signature:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1715872532; c=relaxed/simple; bh=hu8b1Oc2/sJRauENhJ3uYrITzq0Djx15dfkY8B+D/fw=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:Message-ID:References:MIME-Version: Content-Type:Content-Disposition:In-Reply-To; b=oSBbsCDvD992whpXamYoCc1XPaYLyUpJ2gRd3g+g16Ab9sN07eJtlfx4SYlcUW26O01TbIhov2Hl8stuis4LomwSEREMqT+zQzRkpJj18kjBh29Ur6FUNPhW/6Z6wU5ujR3qPAyYktq2nkY3Cgl+xCnxMjJQzF4oHrIDQwg1gYY= ARC-Authentication-Results:i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dmarc=none (p=none dis=none) header.from=crustytoothpaste.net; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=crustytoothpaste.net; dkim=pass (3072-bit key) header.d=crustytoothpaste.net header.i=@crustytoothpaste.net header.b=K2R2/znX; arc=none smtp.client-ip=172.105.110.227 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dmarc=none (p=none dis=none) header.from=crustytoothpaste.net Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=crustytoothpaste.net Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (3072-bit key) header.d=crustytoothpaste.net header.i=@crustytoothpaste.net header.b="K2R2/znX" Received: from tapette.crustytoothpaste.net (unknown [IPv6:2001:470:b056:101:e59a:3ed0:5f5c:31f3]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits) key-exchange ECDHE (P-256) server-signature RSA-PSS (3072 bits) server-digest SHA256) (No client certificate requested) by ring.crustytoothpaste.net (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id C08885DA90; Thu, 16 May 2024 15:15:28 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=crustytoothpaste.net; s=default; t=1715872528; bh=hu8b1Oc2/sJRauENhJ3uYrITzq0Djx15dfkY8B+D/fw=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:References:Content-Type: Content-Disposition:In-Reply-To:From:Reply-To:Subject:Date:To:CC: Resent-Date:Resent-From:Resent-To:Resent-Cc:In-Reply-To:References: Content-Type:Content-Disposition; b=K2R2/znXl8munk+Z6fOkL+XfXlq9N9Tvf5AmJFENGB6VWk5mPTLL4UuNpnLL3/yCO 6gdimjjnmQQZlE3Om32TLjTNDnpt6SFlPCXCl6pyAJtXtAaVr0e4z+OI/uesZma1Y5 i0oT4HLEZXj51pzNw+r6axbW6GmKodS1Z9WRRUU5p0ejChQgewNA8yLKXNgm7NrKwN XGKwy0AkWYym4dVhrgXaz7BquNg6pArUivmTwM/7s1P6crSqo8XLYlR7TyN5AT39iT itP/DInZZDORd8UScn7/qSDtLWm87U7sgx3i/zzfC9UCJfZXqF2uN5D+n0s6xYMVDF myQ6g8NqFgcuhkC65piKl/NMc6K0xP/7WmZosDk7XEAu0G/mIXHx7qg5yTQFytMqWk omkDQhjHiDAcgVAObi8JZzTocZyNLWO4Hcj4ELY9S7tmltUJoyHRWFB+OyAxG/7Bzr TUBEhxO170NEMAPWgUaUj4XJvX4cuLcprQStqLEdtaQFZXNgrlJ Date: Thu, 16 May 2024 15:15:27 +0000 From: "brian m. carlson" To: Kevin Gale Cc: git@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Embedding Git Command Line Message-ID: Mail-Followup-To: "brian m. carlson" , Kevin Gale , git@vger.kernel.org References: <36B52407-B52F-4394-8DF2-F2DF3D3F0504.ref@yahoo.co.uk> <36B52407-B52F-4394-8DF2-F2DF3D3F0504@yahoo.co.uk> Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha512; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="VutRha6zu1SZejk1" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <36B52407-B52F-4394-8DF2-F2DF3D3F0504@yahoo.co.uk> User-Agent: Mutt/2.2.12 (2023-09-09) --VutRha6zu1SZejk1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On 2024-05-16 at 12:04:35, Kevin Gale wrote: > Hi. Hey, > What I would like to know is if integrating with the command line tools w= ould still fall foul of the GPLv2 license or if there is an exception like = there is for libgit2. First of all, I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. However, having said that, I think the common understanding is that it's fine to call out to a GPL binary from your proprietary program without violating the license, unless the output is a derivative work. Usually that's not the case; it would only usually be so if the output included part of the GPL software's source code, such as a parser generator. The FSF has a FAQ[0] that covers this to some extent, which calls the approach of calling out to the program a form of "communicat[ing] at arms length". As a major copyright holder in Git, I don't see a problem from my perspective with a proprietary piece of software calling out to Git as a separate binary. Git is designed to provide scripting interfaces so it's easy to use from a variety of software. You would of course need to provide the source to the version of Git you distribute and the copyright and license information as well, in compliance with the license. Note also that if you are distributing Git, you cannot link it against GPL-incompatible software (e.g., OpenSSL) unless that GPL-incompatible software is distributed independently as part of the operating system. I also want to be clear that this is my understanding as a layperson and my interpretation as a contributor to and copyright holder in Git, but it isn't binding on anyone else here. If you want a legal opinion, you need to consult a lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction who has experience in FLOSS copyright law. Nobody here can provide you such an opinion. [0] https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLInProprietarySystem --=20 brian m. carlson (they/them or he/him) Toronto, Ontario, CA --VutRha6zu1SZejk1 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.4.4 (GNU/Linux) iHUEABYKAB0WIQQILOaKnbxl+4PRw5F8DEliiIeigQUCZkYjDgAKCRB8DEliiIei geXmAP9wHqFaLEkb1L7pISuWru9m5iAtZXN73Pi+/W8+O65JngD+N159+jmySOYM dI598nF+bAxmL/7wfG7+txE5wUBCnwg= =hNOu -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --VutRha6zu1SZejk1--