title: Does the GPL state that dependencies of GPL'd software also have to be released under the GPL?
body: <p>I was reading through some of the older Joel on software articles and came across the <a href="http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/AardvarkSpec.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Project Aardvark spec</a>, one particular section caught my eye:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p><strong>Licenses</strong></p>
  <p>VNC is GPL. The two components we’re building based on VNC, the helper and victim, will need to be re-released under GPL.</p>
  <p>This is not that big a deal. The code will be highly optimized for our own use <strong>and will require the reflector to work, which will not be released under GPL.</strong></p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>This surprised me as I'm sure that I read somewhere that the GPL didn't allow exactly this sort of thing?</p>