[PAM-NTDOM] using pam_ntdom for ftp authentication

[Peter Samuelson]

[Tim Potter <tpot at linuxcare.com.au>]
> 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.

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.

The GIMP implements plugins using standalone executables, pipes and
fork().  PAM implements them using shared objects and dlopen().  From a
nontechnical standpoint (i.e. the legal system), the two methods really
accomplish much the same thing, and a rather different thing from what
(in general) shared libraries accomplish.

Peter