Re: Lilypond for FL Studio ...

[Alexander Kobel]

On 2010-07-18 14:53, Valentin Villenave wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 8:25 AM, Jean-Marie Cannie<address@hidden>  wrote:
> > We are the developers of FL Studio (formerly known as Fruityloops)
> > and we are looking to print music sheets direct from our software.
>
> Greetings,
>
> whilst I'm certain we all appreciate this tribute to LilyPond's
> quality and reliability, you have to know that GNU LilyPond is free
> software (GPLv3 licensed), and as such it cannot be embedded in (nor
> link to) non-free software.

Wait a minute, is this real?

MacOS X ships with XCode.  XCode ships with the GCC.  GCC is mentioned 
on the no. 1 of Internet encyclopedias as the no. 2 of GPL-licensed 
software.
Does this mean that Apple
  a) has some weird kind of agreement with the developers of GCC 
(virtually impossible, since the number is legion)?
  b) relies that nobody (e.g. Macrohard, the ones with Door OS) will 
ever care and sue them?
  c) relies that if they ever get sued they'll either win the fight or 
just have to pay a few bucks?
  d) just knows that this is allowed?

I'm not a lawyer, but to my understanding: d). A plain bundling of a 
binary does not violate even the GPL.  It's not linked (not "making 
function calls or sharing data structures"), it's not embedded, it's 
just shipped with (without modifications, of course) and called.
If this is possible, it'd be a real good thing for LilyPond, by the way. 
 Interested (and paid) developers who will have to spent at least a bit 
of their time to interface and output of a program is always a Good Thing.

By the way, reading the other mails: of course it's not an option to 
hope for FL Studio to be relicensed under the GPL - FL wants to make 
money with it.  It's their business, and it most probably won't work 
just with support.


Cheers,
Alexander