Re: [OctDev] No symbolic package in future (Windows/VC++) releases

[Judd Storrs]

On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 5:04 PM, John W. Eaton <address@hidden> wrote:

Does the FAQ answer specifically say that you are not allowed to
distribute them together?

GPLv2 section 3 does:

"However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies the executable."

The question is whether being part of the same installer counts as "accompanies the executable". GPLv3 may be more lenient. The best I could find as equivalent is at the end of section 6:

"A separable portion of the object code, whose source code is excluded
from the Corresponding Source as a System Library, need not be
included in conveying the object code work."

It seems to me that the GPLv3's "need not" is much more permissive than the GPLv2's ban on co-distribution.

--judd