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From: David Starner <dstarner98@aasaa.ofe.org>
Subject: Re: GPL and "free" software
Date: 1999/04/29
Message-ID: <3728C588.D779258F@aasaa.ofe.org>#1/1
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Date: 1999-04-29T00:00:00+00:00
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Ed Avis wrote:
> 
> David Starner wrote:
> 
> [why not distribute libraries under the GPL?]
> 
> >Because with a template based library, it can be virtually impossible to
> >sepearte the library and program in the way that the LGPL requires. The
> >only way to permit relinking would be to include source files for the
> >program, something not acceptable for proprietary programs.
> 
> I don't understand what you mean.  Surely the library can be stored in
> a separate shared object or DLL, and loaded just before the program
> starts running, which would be a strict separation of library code
> from program code.

In C terms, it would be similar to a "library" that was full of macros -
for example:

#define sqrt(a) ({int i; i = a/2; do {a = i/a;} \
	while (a*a - i > .1); i})

You could write most of the C library that way. Now, that would
embed a significant amount of code into the application in a way
that dynamic linking wouldn't help. This is effectively what
C++ templates and Ada generics do, but at a higher level.

If you used LGPL, you would have to ship source code - no other way to
allow someone to change the macros. With the GNAT-licensed code, you
don't have to.