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How to fullfill GPLv2 license when distributing Plugins?

asked 2023-04-11 07:40:43 +0000

DeveloperAlexander gravatar image

What exactly needs to be done to fullfill the GPLv2 license of Wireshark when distrubuting a compiled EPAN Plugin written in C?

Is it sufficient to refer to the plugin's git repository and Wireshark's official git repository?

What about the libraries Wireshark uses? (e.g. Qt) Does the source code of these libraries also have to be made available?

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If you plan to make the code public why not work with the Wireshark developers and offer your code as a MR instead?

Anders gravatar imageAnders ( 2023-04-13 07:10:02 +0000 )edit

I have already done this in the past. But there are changes or features that are to specific to the use case. That's why I don't see a chance for them to get through. Everything that goes beyond the smallest changes usually doesn't stand a chance anyway.

DeveloperAlexander gravatar imageDeveloperAlexander ( 2023-04-14 11:02:17 +0000 )edit

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answered 2023-04-11 10:21:04 +0000

grahamb gravatar image

The requirements are all in the GPL 2.0 licence, if you have questions about that then consulting a GPL 2.0 aware lawyer might be appropriate.

Other components, e.g. Qt,npcap may have a different but compatible license which should also be observed.

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That's what I have done and after that there are more question marks than before. For me it seems like there must be a gap between theory and praxis.

An example of this is that the copyleft effect does not take effect if a corresponding part of the software can be viewed as a separate, independently usable part. It is not entirely clear to me which parts or libraries of Wireshark this applies to.

Furthermore, the recipient of the GPLv2-licensed software may well assume that all components of the software that he receives as a package fall under the GPLv2 license.

However, I'm not sure if I understood that correctly. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

DeveloperAlexander gravatar imageDeveloperAlexander ( 2023-04-14 11:20:02 +0000 )edit

From your question is not clear what kind of license would you like to apply to your plugin. Would you like to apply GPL v2 to your plugin or something else?

It is tricky for plugins. I have found the following for GPL/plugins: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq....

pac122 gravatar imagepac122 ( 2023-04-24 07:32:10 +0000 )edit

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Asked: 2023-04-11 07:40:43 +0000

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Last updated: Apr 11 '23