On Saturday, October 11, 2003, at 06:27 PM, der.hans wrote:
> Am 11. Oct, 2003 schw=E4tzte Chris Gehlker so:
>
>> I'm concerned about the other side of this issue. If we install GPL
>> software and don't offer them the source then we have violated the=20
>> GPL.
>
> Nope. The software is available via the same source that we got it.=20
> Only if
> we go recompile it for them do we need to worry about that. Even then,=20=
> I
> think we're find if we used a vanilla source package.
>
> BTW, gentoo is safe because it's all compiled on their box, so they=20
> had the
> source code in order to compile it :).
I agree with you about Gentoo but I'm not totally reassured about my=20
distro. Let me explain the problem
The GPL doesn't say much about binary distribution. Here is the whole=20
thing:
> 3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,=20
> under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of=20=
> Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
> a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable=20
> source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1=20=
> and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
>
> b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three =20
> years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your =20
> cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete=20
> machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be=20
> distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium =20
> customarily used for software interchange; or,
>
> c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to=20=
> distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is allowed=20
> only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the=20
> program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in=20
> accord with Subsection b above.)
Now my little distro always does a) If you buy CDs, you get the source=20=
CDs bundled with the the binary CDs. If you go to their web site, the=20
source ISOs are next to the binary ISOs. I could do a) myself but I=20
would have to double the number of CDs I burn.
I cannot as a practical matter do b). I may never see some of these=20
people again.
Doing c) is, I think, what you had in mind when you talk about the=20
software being available "via the same source that we got it". The=20
problem is that my right to do c) is contingent on my distributer doing=20=
b). But my distributer didn't do b), he did a). By the plain language=20
of the GPL, I can't point back to "the same source that we got it"=20
without "a written offer valid for at least three years." I have no=20
such document.
You make a good point about vanilla source. I think it provides a way=20
out. As individuals we might have a hard time promising to provide=20
source code for three years but PLUG could certainly do it for us. I=20
think a statement on the forms saying something along the lines of:
'Many of the programs you received today are Free Software. You have=20
the right to review the source code for at least the next three years.=20=
Visit the PLUG website at
http://plug.phoenix.az.us/ for pointers to=20
where you may download the source code.'
Would satisfy both the spirit and the letter of the GPL.
I realize I'm being nit-picky but these are litigious times.=
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