That is very untrue.
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#MereAggregation
You can even ship it with a proprietary installer.
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#MereAggregation
You can even ship it with a proprietary installer.
It still seems that you can't for instance launch an executable that runs cigwin in the background.
[citation needed]
The corporate lawyers that I've talked to at my previous day jobs have told me that this is an obviously legal thing to do.
"If the modules are included in the same executable file, they are definitely combined in one program."
Piping programs into each other is okay, but once you start bundling it's all up in the air.
The example of an installer can't be more unambiguous. I quote "No. The installer and the files it installs are separate works. As a result, the terms of the GPL do not apply to the installation software." No. Full-stop. GPL does not apply.
If an installer of GPL software doesn't have to be GPL then certainly unrelated software which happens to come in same disk/download doesn't have to be.
How does bundling mean combining it into an _executable_ file? Sure, this could be the case for an installer, but that one could also just download/copy the files.