[PAM-NTDOM] using pam_ntdom for ftp authentication

[Steve Langasek]

On Thu, 15 Jun 2000, Tim Potter wrote:

> > > There's also the issue of the pam_ntdom module being GPL which means
> > > that technically any program linking (i.e actually using it) also
> > > needs to be GPL.  )-:

> > Hmmm.  Subtle.

> Yes it is.

> > The GPL and dynamic linking issues are sort of in the eye of the
> > beholder.  I think I disagree with your interpretation, at least from a
> > common-sense viewpoint.  Technically pam_* are dynamically linked with
> > libpam.so (and, by extension, sshd etc), but to me the modules are not
> > so much shared libraries as plugins.

> I agree, but no matter how you look at it pam_whatever.so is
> dynamically linked in to a running executable by the C library.
> Hence, it falls under the GPL.

Yes... but the GPL doesn't prohibit linking GPLed code against proprietary
code; it only prohibits /distributing the resulting derived work/.

If I take pam_ntdom and redistribute it, that's ok.
If I take pam_ntdom and set /etc/pam.d up on my machine for a non-GPLed
application to use, that's ok.
If I take pam_ntdom and package it in a Linux distribution, and configure
non-GPL apps to use it by default... that could be bad.

Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer