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* code signing with foreign function interface?
@ 2010-03-07  6:24 joakim
  2010-03-07 16:13 ` David Kastrup
                   ` (2 more replies)
  0 siblings, 3 replies; 17+ messages in thread
From: joakim @ 2010-03-07  6:24 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Emacs development discussions

The GPL cannot prevent free and non-free code being distributed
together. Therefore a distributor can push GPL non-compliance to an
unknowing user.

If code signing of dynamic libraries is employed, the end-user can be
made aware he is breaking the intentions of the GPL. Would this be
enough to satisfy the requirements for an Emacs FFI?

Recently I was involved in a project which made me understand better why
dynamic linking might be problematic for a free project. Also I didn't
find a mention of this particular approach to an Emacs FFI, so that's why
I (probably mistakenly) bring up this subject again.

Here are some statements the list might want to refute or confirm:

- While DRM is evil, code signing is not in itself.

- Supporting code signing in Emacs should be simple on some platforms,
but maybe not all interesting ones.

- Removing the code-signing check is of course trivial, but no more
trivial than adding a FFI to Emacs withouth checks today.

- We don't necessarily need a complete secure infrastructure for this. A
  simple solution might be to check for the presence of a form of GNU
  license in binary form in the dll. This particular GNU license is
  itself protected by copyright and cannot be combined with other works
  without creating a derived work. This signature might be added
  to an existing dll by code signing. While this is of course
  circumventable, I dont see that it opens any new holes.


-- 
Joakim Verona




^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 17+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2010-03-09  3:18 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 17+ messages (download: mbox.gz follow: Atom feed
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2010-03-07  6:24 code signing with foreign function interface? joakim
2010-03-07 16:13 ` David Kastrup
2010-03-07 17:05   ` joakim
2010-03-07 18:06     ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-03-07 19:19       ` joakim
2010-03-08  4:22         ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-03-08  8:01           ` David Kastrup
2010-03-08  7:41     ` joakim
2010-03-07 18:04 ` Eli Zaretskii
2010-03-07 19:39   ` joakim
2010-03-08  8:04 ` Richard Stallman
2010-03-08  8:15   ` joakim
2010-03-08  8:24   ` Miles Bader
2010-03-08  9:02     ` Stephen Berman
2010-03-08  9:12       ` Eli Zaretskii
2010-03-08 15:20   ` Stefan Monnier
2010-03-09  3:18     ` Richard Stallman

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