[Mono-devel-list] Is using .NET localized data allowed in the GPL project?

[Yuri Astrakhan]

Hi. I have kept my eye on mono for a while, and once
got a hold of a computer, decided to do my little bit.
 As my first target i chose all those CultureInfo
globalization data tables that mono does not have
(there are some xml files, but they are mostly in
english, and incomplete case statements in the
CultureInfo implementation).

I wrote a utility that compares the abovementioned XML
files with the current runtime and shows/updates all
the differences.  Thus, by running this utility on a
MS .NET with all available language packs installed
(about 20) i was able to automagically update all
those XML files with all the Culture names, Calendar
names, Number formats, etc.  And everything worked
fine, except that now it got me thinking about the
copyrights, etc, and if this data would be legally
usable in a GPL project.

On one hand, the way "Zimbabwe" is written in Korean
language cannot be copyrighted.  On the other, a
collection of such data might?

What about interoperability?  The code running on mono
should be able to generate exactly the same localized
output of dates and names as it would on .NET, so
would a comparison of the XML files with the .NET data
be ok?  And if it is, can files be updated by hand to
be exactly the same?  At which point they would become
exactly same as if generated by a utility...

Lastly, if reflection, which is a legit platform part
is used to access non-public methods/variables, is
that ok?

Just my humble wenture into the legalities of
software... 

Any comments are welcome.

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