Please, I need this clarification

On 1/28/06, Dismer Ronda Betancourt <dismer.rondagmail.com> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I have an application that is not GPL and i want to use
OpenVPN (GPL) with
> it. I will not use the source code, just calling
OpenVPN command line
> program to stablish a virtual connection to an OpenVPN
server to guarantee
> privacy in data transmission. May I distribute OpenVPN
binaries along with
> my application? I´m not charging my client for the use
of OpenVPN at all, in
> fact i´m trying to help him saving money through the
use of a free VPN
> solution. Does it violates VPN License? I have read GPL
and I´m confused. My
> program is not derived from OpenVPN nor modify it, my
program just configure
> OpenVPN and run it to simplify the users opperation.

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

First of all if you distribute OpenVPN binaries, then you
must follow
the license.  For instance you either must include source
code or you
must offer source code for at least 3 years to anyone who
asks.

But that doesn't answer your real question which is about
whether you
can include it with your code.  The answer to your question
depends
upon whether your code is derivative of OpenVPN according to
copyright
law.  If it is, then you can only distribute your code under
the GPL,
whether or not you include OpenVPN.  If it is not then it is
fine to
distribute them together.

Whether or not it is derivative depends strongly upon how
intimately
the two relate.

At one extreme you might have a program that allows people
to connect
in many ways, and it just stores a user-typed connection
line.  In
that case your program knows nothing about and is derived in
no way,
shape, or form from OpenVPN.

At the opposite extreme you might have a program whose
entire job it
is to provide a nice graphical interface to OpenVPN.  It not
only
knows about OpenVPN, but its design is centered around being
able to
make sense of every configuration option and error message. 
Even
though that program just calls the command line, it is
derivative and
likely should be GPLed.

If you have any doubt about where your program falls in that
spectrum,
consult a lawyer.

> I´ll greatly appreciate your help to clarify this.

I hope my response helped.

Cheers,
Ben

PS An economic note that is more appropriate for the free
software
business list.  People generally decide how much a given
problem is
worth to them, and then have to split that cost among the
parts of the
solution.   Therefore if you can save people money on one
part of the
problem, they're generally more willing to spend on other
parts.  So
even though you might be offering the GPLed code for free,
you'd be
well advised to charge more for the rest.  (This is part of
how IBM
etc make money on free software.  They can charge more for
Websphere
because Apache is free.)