[OT} How to un-GPL parts of a GPL'd module.

[Magnus Lie Hetland]

In article <vm6nqucj6o1l0v913ord9hhml7e8bqbn1o at 4ax.com>, Courageous wrote:
>
>>character, a language keyword, etc.) Where is the line drawn? I guess
>>a "substantial amount" would have to be copied for it to be covered by
>>the license, but...
>
>You're busted the moment the amount becomes recognizable in and
>of its own right as part of the original work.

Weeeell... What if I used the variable name "fnooooooooble" in my
code, slapped a GPL on it, and someone else later copied the variable
name? It would be recognisable, but hardly covered by the license...

> Avoid the temptation
>to cut and paste code from copyrighted works. This is a fine way
>to land yourself into trouble, should you be discovered (which is
>unlikely, but that's a different discussion).

I'm not really talking about what you can "get away with", but what is
actually legal. If a GPL'ed program has a nice implementation of
QuickSort, and I snip it -- is it covered by the license? I'd say it's
doubtful, but it seems that it's not obvious where the lines are
drawn. (And, of course, copyrighting a piece of code is not the same
as patenting an algorithm; and for something to be copyrightable it
must meet several criteria, I believe -- i.e. be a "substantial work"
of some kind. Snippets of the code will probably have to meet the same
criteria.)

>C//

-- 
Magnus Lie Hetland        Practical Python          The Anygui Project
http://hetland.org        http://ppython.com        http://anygui.org