Re: A single unified license

[Richard Braakman <dark@xs4all.nl>]

On Sat, Jun 14, 2003 at 01:31:05AM -0400, Anthony DeRobertis wrote:
> On Fri, 2003-06-13 at 22:02, Walter Landry wrote:
> 
> >     d) Accompany it with information as to how to obtain, for a charge
> >     no more than the cost of physically performing source
> >     distribution, corresponding source. (This alternative is allowed
> >     only for noncommercial distribution)
> 
> Looks quite a bit like (b).

I think the key difference is that (d) does not require the distributor
to make any kind of commitment.  It would be acceptable to say "Here's
a Debian CD.  You can find corresponding sources at http://debian.org/";.
That's a lot easier than "Here's a Debian CD.  And here's my solemn
promise to provide source CDs for this Debian version to anyone who
asks for the next three years.  Please wait while I go buy a CD burner."
(Note that 2(c) is not an option here because Debian doesn't use 2(b).)

I think 2(d) reflects what people already do in practice.  It may even
dispel some of the misinformation and misunderstanding surrounding the
GPL, by making it clear that this alternative is NOT allowed for
commercial distribution.

Richard Braakman