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Re: GPL and software I have written



On Wed, Nov 01, 2000 at 09:17:13AM -0600, Brooks R. Robinson wrote:
> Greetings!
> 	I have a dilemma, and I expect this to end in a flame war, but here goes...
> I am a computer science student, and I also work as a system administrator.
> For one of my classes, I have written an e-commerce package.  It is written
> in C using GCC, it uses Mini-SQL, and runs on Apache as a CGI program.  My
> employer has expressed interest it this particular piece of software (my
> e-commerce package).
> 	I have issues with my employer that cause me to not want to merely hand
> over my work.  I have never released/published any software that I have
> written, so I am treading into new territory.  Therefore, I have read
> through the GPL, and I think I understand, but I would like confirmation.
> Since I am not modifying any existing software, I am creating new software,
> I can charge for the new software.  This could be a license fee or
> something.

You can't GPL it and charge for the *GPL* version.  However, as you're
the sole author, you could LICENSE the code for a fee and release old
versions under GPL for free (which others could do whatever they want
with except sell or re-license). Always put your Copyright on every code
file.

> 	I, of course, cannot and would not charge them for GCC, Apache, or for that
> matter Linux in general, except to the extent that I provide them a
> distribution (I burn a CD for them and/or install it on a computer).
> Mini-SQL has it's own license (NON GPL) that they would have to purchase
> separately (I developed this as a student, so I am not require to pay money
> for a license, but they would as a commercial site/use).
> 	In essence, I am providing them C code, which they can compile and execute.
> Am I in the ballpark or have I gone off the deep end?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Brooks

-- 
#! /bin/sh
# ppp-address: What's my Internet Address for ppp0 ?
/sbin/ifconfig ppp0 2> /dev/null | grep 'inet addr:' | sed \
's=.*inet addr\:\([0-9]\{1,3\}\.[0-9]\{1,3\}\.[0-9]\{1,3\}\.[0-9]\{1,3\}\).*=\1='



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