Re: Re: Linux and GPLv2
From: Francesco Poli <frx@firenze.linux.it>
On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 17:53:35 +0000 Gervase Markham wrote:
[about the "don't remove get_source feature"]
> - The requirement to not remove certain particular code is
> probably non-free;
I don't think it's forbidding to remove the code: it's merely
forbidding to drop a feature.
You could reimplement it in a better (or even worse) way, but you
must support it.
Then if my reimplementation has a bug that prevents it from working
properly, I may be accused of infringement?
Anyway I agree it's non-free.
Then you may be surprised to hear that the GPLv2 does have a "don't
remove this feature" clause:
c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
when run, you must cause it, when started running for such
interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an
announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a
notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide
a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under
these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this
License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but
does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on
the Program is not required to print an announcement.)
I'd even read this as saying "if the original program isn't
interactive, but the modified one is, you must _add_ that feature".
Gerardo Ballabio
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