Re: code signing with foreign function interface?

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

address@hidden writes:

 > - Emacs FFI loads the dll and checks that the desired licensed text in
 >   binary form is present, and then proceeds to use the dll. If the text
 >   is not present, refuse to proceed.

I don't understand what you hope to accomplish with this.  On the one
side, I don't see how this prevents infringing binary distributions.
One who is violating the GPL anyway is unlikely to deliberately
*remove* the key which will surely be present in the sample module he
derives his code from.

On the other, it will interfere with private use of DLLs without the
key, which (a) is not restricted at all by the GPL, and (b) is very
likely quite legitimate in the case of older GPLed or LGPLed DLLs (ie,
all that exist today).

And if you're serious about a true FFI that can be called from Lisp,
the situation is even worse: very likely the user wishes to call
routines from a library which doesn't know or care that Emacs exists.

So I don't see how it addresses the objections to the use of DLLs
and/or FFI, while noticeably restricting the exercise of rights
granted under the GPL.