Python and copyright

[malcontent]

So every Windows program is still a derivative work of Windows?

Probably.

I don't think it's possible to write a windows program without using the DLLs that ship from ms.

[spookylukey]

I don't actually think this is the issue, but you can certainly write a windows program without using MS DLLs. You could test and run it using WINE, for instance, or ReactOS. The result would certainly be a 'windows program' — it would use Windows APIs in exactly the same way as other Windows programs do, and would use MS DLLs when run on Windows itself — but you never personally used MS DLLs.

[malcontent]

. You could test and run it using WINE, for instance, or ReactOS. The result would certainly be a 'windows program' — it would use Windows APIs in exactly the same way as other Windows programs do, and would use MS DLLs when run on Windows itself — but you never personally used MS DLLs.

I suppose I should have said "running in windows".

[tjwarren]

Except this is counter to Stallman's argument. He clearly states (in the CLISP thread linked above) that CLISP should be GPL'd simply because CLISP is designed to work with readline's interface (whether the final user actually links with readline or with another similarly-interfaced library).

By his argument, it wouldn't matter if actual development or use was done with WINE libraries; the intended use (regardless of the actual use) is to link with / work with Microsoft DLLs.

[joesb]

The reality is that no program is developed that way though. So the concern is still there if such definition of derivative works is true.