Quoting Adam Borowski (kilobyte@???):

> There's none, either way.

Exactly. On the other hand, there's a _great_ deal of caselaw about
what does and does not constitute a derivative work. The criteria are
quite clear (even if not mechanistic), having to do with the reuse of
copyright-encumbered creative elements in a new work. Smart money
suggests that judges would continues to use those criteria, which have
nothing whatsoever to do with linking. Thus, the assertion in the FSF
FAQ, continually repeated in various Linux forums, has no foundation in
copyright law. Which is what I said.

> What matters for now is the point of view of ftpmasters of Debian, Fedora,
> Gentoo and what not, who either believe the FSF or prefer to stay safe.

Actually, I believe the question was whether the upthread assertion
about linking and copyright law is legally sound. It isn't --
irrespective of what any distribution's policy requires. So saying is
not 'pretty fringe'. It's what people who actually know something about
copyright law have been telling in response to FSF's wishful thinking,
for years.

And that was the entirety of what I said. Changing the subject is a
fine hobby, and I wish you luck with that, however.