[Mailman-Developers] XML-RPC interface to mailman

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

>>>>> "Joseph" == Joseph Tate <dragonstrider at gmail.com> writes:

    Joseph> Finally, I'd like some discussion of licensing.  I think
    Joseph> that the xmlrpc.py file itself should be LGPL just so that
    Joseph> there is no ambiguity whatsoever about using XML-RPC calls
    Joseph> from a non-GPL application.

You can't, since it calls Mailman functions.  Mailman is licensed
under the GPL, so all derivative works must be licensed under the GPL
when distributed.

    Joseph> However part of me thinks that this is unnecessary because
    Joseph> there is no import required to use XML-RPC, and therefore,
    Joseph> calling these functions would not be considered "linking"
    Joseph> in any technical sense of the word,

Unfortunately, linking is not a necessary condition for a program to
be a derivative work, merely a sufficient one.  I would suspect that
Richard Stallman and Eben Moglen will tell you that anything with
"RPC" in its name should be presumed to create derivative works until
proven otherwise.  After all, the whole point of any "remote procedure
call" protocol to allow the moral equivalent of linking without actually
sharing memory cells.

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