Licensquestions on GNU Software.

[Robert Dewar]

> ... and the fastest way to tell if your program is linked to the Cygwin run-
> time library (cygwin1.dll) is to use the program cygcheck that comes with 
> Cygwin. It will show a listing of the DLLs that your program is dependent 
> on. If you have cygwin1.dll listed, then it becomes a derived work, hence 
> GNU GPL (unless licensed otherwise).

I know things like this are off topic, but it is very wrong to convey the
implication that by linking with any library the license on your program
suddenly changes. This is wrong and very misleading.

The issue is that IF (and only if) you want to distribute your program, then
you have to worry about the issue of distributing other people's copyrighted
software. There is nothing special about the GPL here, the same concern would
arise for any third party copyrighted software, e.g. from Microsoft.

In the case of the GPL, unlike most other licenses, it is possible for you
to distribute the material if you also distribute your part of the derived
work with a similar license. But there is nothing that forces you to do this.
You have the following alternatives:

  o  Don't distribute the program to other parties
  o  Avoid the use of the libraries in question
  o  Go to the holder of the copyright and see if they will license it to you
      with a license that is more appropriate for your needs.