"Preferred form of work" Re: Keyspan Firmware fun
On Thu, Apr 26, 2001 at 11:11:33AM +0300, Richard Braakman wrote:
> The GPL defines source code in section 3:
> "The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
> making modifications to it."
>
> It doesn't address the question of _whose_ preferred form, but I think
> that the form actually used by the author is a very good indication.
> So if you entered the program with a hex editor, and fix bugs the same
> way, then a hex dump is the source code.
What about if the preferred form changes? For example, you have two
authors, one who keeps the program as a literate program and the
other one who keeps it as straight source, and they convert it whenever
they exchange code. Is the preferred form literate or illiterate? Can
the literate author 'tangle' it and release it?
Alternately, what about a program whose binary form has become the
primary form of editing it? Say, some company releases one of the
old Commodore or NES games under a GPL license, but doesn't release
the source. Does it matter that a number of people can and are
hacking on the binary? Does it make any difference if the source has
been lost by now?
--
David Starner - dstarner98@aasaa.ofe.org
Pointless website: http://dvdeug.dhis.org
"I don't care if Bill personally has my name and reads my email and
laughs at me. In fact, I'd be rather honored." - Joseph_Greg
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