Re: Question About GNU General Public License

[Alexander Terekhov]

David Kastrup wrote:
[...]
> > > Linking, whether static or dynamic, changes the program
> >
> > It doesn't change the program.
> 
> You better clue yourself in about what linking does.  It resolves
> symbols.

That doesn't change the program. Go read the copyright law defintion
of what the "computer program" is.

> 
> > > and can't be undone.
> >
> > It can be undone.
> 
> Not when we are talking about the resolution to a running image
> because the fixup chains are lost in the process of linking.

In my "CEEDUMPS" (C/C++ on mainframe) nothing is lost.

> 
> > > In contrast to calling dlopen, which can be undone with dlclose.
> >
> > If you have a map you can "undo" static linking.
> 
> Then there should be some command line utility that can do the job,
> given appropriate options.  How do you unlink statically linked
> binaries again?

Write a command utility and patch gcc if you need it. I don't need it.

> 
> > Lack of map (no one simply needs it but it can reside in the
> > executable just like the debug stuff) doesn't make it "derivative
> > work".
> 
> No, but the fact that you can't separate the units again without
> having access to special information how they were joined does.

It's not my problem that the use of your tools result in loss of 
information.

regards,
alexander.