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> Companies like Amazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Rackspace use GPLv3 software routinely in their "commercial" settings. True. But they don't use GPL libr
by jwr 16y ago
> Companies like Amazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Rackspace use GPLv3 software routinely in their "commercial" settings.
True. But they don't use GPL libraries as part of their strategic code base, especially if that code base is then "distributed" to their clients.
I also use GPL software and I'm happy with it. Linux is a good example. But I can't put my main software application under the GPL.
Don't box me as a "GPL-hater", because I'm not. I'm just providing a viewpoint that library authors might not have considered.
- rbanffy 16y agoWon't box you, jwr, but we have to agree that the only business model where using GPL'ed libraries is the one where you link the GPL library as part of your code and sell (or give away) the resulting program as closed source. Google, Facebook, Oracle, even Microsoft are free to base their web properties on GPL-ed code without any fear whatsoever someone will obtain their prized source. In this case, the simplest way to dodge the GPL would be to write a service around the library and call it through an IPC mechanism. This way you can distribute your private code along the GPL library, as long as you provide code for your service layer. This is hardly an unsolvable problem.