Re: lynx-dev Re: [CHRPM] lynx-2.8.5-0.11mdk.dev.8

[Doug Kaufman]

On Sun, 17 Nov 2002, Frédéric L. W. Meunier wrote:

> I think so. David Woolley advised me to remove IDEA, MDC2, and
> RC5 from my OpenSSL for Windows (Borland C++), what I did.

This is because of licensing problems, not legality. Some countries
have patents on these algorithms that would require you to get a
license before using them.

> What about Lynx ? I and a few people distribute SSL binaries
> for Windows / Cygwin.

Openssl comes with the Cygwin operating system and is probably OK
under the GPL. Wget, whose copyright is held by the FSF, recently
put an exception into the license to allow linking with openssl
for all platforms. This probably isn't possible with lynx, since
the copyright isn't held by any one entity. Similarly, there is
no one other than a copyright owner who can enforce the GPL. See
"http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-violation.html";

Since the openssl license is not technically compatible with GPL,
and since the openssl developers have no intention of changing their
license, I believe it would be reasonable to act in accord with what
you think the intent of the lynx developers would be in this regard.
I find it hard to believe that there would be objection to linking
with an unmodified openssl, whose source code is readily available. I
would think that linking with a privately modified openssl, without
available source, would be ethically more problematic.
                   Doug
__
Doug Kaufman
Internet: address@hidden


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