| 363 | | |
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| 364 | | <dt> |
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| 365 | | <a name="srccode"> |
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| 366 | | If I write a new API module in [<i>insert your favorite programming |
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| 367 | | language here</i>] and take advantage of the Swish-e License's "special exception" to the GPL, |
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| 368 | | do I really have to include the Swish-e source code with my module? |
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| 369 | | </a> |
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| 370 | | </dt> |
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| 371 | | |
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| 372 | | <dd> |
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| 373 | | <p> |
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| 374 | | Only if your module is precompiled (e.g., a Windows module). If you are just making your module |
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| 375 | | available via the machine-readable source files (e.g., in a tar file for downloading |
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| 376 | | and compiling on a user's machine), |
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| 377 | | then you do not need to include the Swish-e source files. It's a chicken-and-egg situation: |
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| 378 | | you haven't actually linked anything if all you are making available is source files, so you aren't required |
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| 379 | | to include the Swish-e source code. You are making the files available for someone else |
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| 380 | | to compile (and hence link against libswish-e). If <b>that</b> person (the user of your module) |
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| 381 | | were to re-distribute the module they just compiled, they would be responsible for also including |
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| 382 | | the Swish-e source files. |
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| 383 | | </p> |
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| 384 | | <p>However, if you compile your module against libswish-e |
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| 385 | | and distribute your compiled module as binary code, then you must include the Swish-e source code |
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| 386 | | along with it. That's a GPL requirement. |
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| 387 | | </p> |
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| 388 | | <p>The "special exception" simply allows you to distribute your module, whether in source or binary |
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| 389 | | format, under any license you choose. The freedom that the GPL guarantees is the freedom of your |
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| 390 | | users to obtain, modify and copy the source (Swish-e) that your module depends upon. |
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| 391 | | </p> |
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| 392 | | </dd> |
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| 393 | | |
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| 394 | | |
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