Re: How to make a non-GPL Org-mode exporter?

[Daniele Nicolodi <daniele@grinta.net>]

On 27/07/15 18:59, Marcin Borkowski wrote:
> On 2015-07-27, at 14:39, Daniele Nicolodi <daniele@grinta.net> wrote:
>> Therefore, the only extensions to org-mode that can exist (and be
>> distributed, if you write code and keep it for yourself you are not
>> affected by the licensing terms) must be GPL.
>>
>> Thus, it makes little sense to continue the discussion: even if you
>> would release the code in your tutorial under a different license, it
>> would be or no use for who will read it.
> 
> I see.  Funnily, I found a few Emacs blogs (also by renowned Emacs
> hackers, like Oleh mentioned above) which clearly violate the rule that
> any Elisp code should be GPL'd.  So my intuition that nobody cares (at
> least until explicitly asked) seems to be confirmed;-).

Only who detains the copyright in something can enforce his licensing
terms. The copyright holder can decide that a specific use of its
copyrights material is fine and allow it, despite it not following
strictly the license agreement. In this case (I believe) the FSF
recognizes that there is no point in nitpicking on the license of a few
snippets of code. However, the FSF could ask in any moment to have the
license of those snippets clarified.

>>> How do I do that?  Is that even possible?  Also, is it possible to get
>>> an actual answer to this question without spending money on lawyers?
>>
>> There is no need to have lawyers involved, if you are in doubt about the
>> interpretation of the GPL you can consult the FSF (or other
>> organizations) on the matter. They will be happy to answer your question
>> with a very high degree of authority on the matter.
> 
> As someone mentioned, lawyers will not answer any question with a "high
> degree of authority".  Although I admit that this is not entirely their
> fault.

Who spoke about lawyers? I suggested to contact the FSF (or other
organizations involved in GPL enforcement). The FSF is the organizations
that wrote the GPL and that detains the copyright of a fairly large
codebase released under the GPL. Therefore they know what they meant
when they wrote it.

Furthermore, they detain the copyright on Emacs (and its Elisp
implementation) and org-mode, the project from which you are basing (or
not) your work. Therefore, they are authoritative when they deal with
copyright issues on that code.

I will not comment on the rest of your nonsensical arguments.

Cheers,
Daniele