On Mon, 8 Sep 2003, Brad Hards wrote:
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> On Mon, 08 Sep 2003 04:00 am, Harry Goldschmitt wrote:
> > Does anyone have an opinion on how this might apply to plug-in
> > dissectors. I'm writing a dissector for a patented protocol. The
> > intent is to keep it inside the company, but there's always a chance
> > someone will get hold of it. I was assuming that as a separate piece
> > of software, making use of Ethereal facilities, I was reasonably
> > safe. After all, I don't think Apples Quick Time plug-in for Mozilla
> > puts Quick Time source under GPL.
> Depends on "plug-in" meaning. AFAICT, if it runs in the same address space,
> that isn't "mere aggregation", and you'd have to put it under the GPL. If it
> communications over an inter-process communication protocol, then you can
> choose some other license.
I have heard lawyers speak on this subject, and, although I was not
thoroughly convinced that they were right, it does, at first, sound
reasonable.
Their claim was that it depended on when the aggregation occurred.
If you simply make the plug-in available so that the end-user makes the
aggregation, ie, links the plug-in in at run-time, then that does not
count as a violation of the licence.
Regards
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Richard Sharpe, rsharpe[at]ns.aus.com, rsharpe[at]samba.org,
sharpe[at]ethereal.com, http://www.richardsharpe.com
