Misunderstanding of embedded system designers

Misunderstanding of embedded system designers

Posted Jan 17, 2006 7:11 UTC (Tue) by foom (subscriber, #14868)
In reply to: Misunderstanding of embedded system designers by karim
Parent article: GPLv3: a first look

I think it is clear that the GPL can only protect the works that it covers. So, if you can fully use the
hypothetical GPLv3'd kernel but some proprietary app is protected by DRM, there can be nothing
wrong with that. Yes, you cannot use the proprietary application, but, you must be able to fully use
everything on the system protected by the GPL.

However, note one further wrinkle. Let's assume that there will be an LGPLv3 similar to the current
LGPL + GPLv3 changes. Then, said proprietary app must allow the replacement of LGPL'd
subcomponents and still function. Such as...GNU libc. So, you can build your proprietary app with a
DRM checksum, but, I have to be able to replace the GNU libc and have the app still function.

Of course, you can build your app without libc, too...

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