Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal
IMO this issue is a red herring. Here is what the GPL FAQ has to say on the subject
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLOutput
Pretty much any GPLed software will include string fragments that it outputs into any output file. Since any output file is capable of being interpreted by some software, if only a hex editor, any output file is "code". As such if someone were to try to claim that the output of a GPLed program is itself GPLed, *every single file* ever produced by a GPL program would then have to be GPLed. That is simply not going to happen. |
Except, calibre intentionally writes to the output code its foot print. MS Word does pretty much the same and, if you read the MS Office licence, it says essentially (among other things) that due to this fact, each and every doc ever created with MS Word belongs to MS.
So all your [windows] base are belong to MS.
INAL, but if calibre writes calibre things to the code it outputs, then it transfers the GPL to the said output. Remember why MS called GPL a virus?
Just my 2 cents