Re: Lilypond \include statements and the GPL

[Alexander Kobel]

On 03/29/2013 06:26 AM, Janek Warchoł wrote:
> An example came to my mind: imagine someone typesetting a score and
> using one (just one) function from OLLib.  Distributing whole OLLib
> together with the score just to have this one functionality would be
> inconvenient, so he'd like to actually paste this function from OLLib
> into his file.  Can he do this?  I think that such usage should be
> permitted (and not resulting in the final score being copylefted), as
> long as the function is clearly marked and attributed.

That might be a dark gray area.
I'm not sure what's the smallest "unit" a license like the GPL can be 
applied to, but rest assured that I know from past experience that it is 
/very/ beneficial to have one license per file.  From the law you may be 
right (with the same reasoning why a publisher can print the works of 
different composers, or both PD and copyrighted works, in the same 
volume), but if that case appears in reality, I strongly suggest you 
distribute in small pieces.  One more file is cheap, one more letter 
from a lawyer isn't.


Best,
Alexander