Re: A plea for dynamically loadable extension modules

[Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>]

Our legal position is that the GPL applies to any code _distributed_
to be used specifically as part of Emacs, whether they are combined
by dynamic linking or not.  The GPL also applies to any code that
Emacs is specifically designed to link with (except that in that case,
the responsibility to avoid license conflicts is ours).

This requirement would not apply to some general-purpose library, even
if it could be dynamically linked into Emacs, if some user decides to
link it in.

> 4. We could cover the meaning and legal bindings of having 'IsGPLed'
> somewhere in the license and it is the responsibility of the
> library/owner to make sure it is completely covered under GPL if the
> function is implemented to return 'true' and Emacs does not take any
> responsibility beyond checking for the function and it's return value
> and no more.

That seems to propose a change in the GPL.  It isn't feasible.