On Wed, Jan 02, 2002 at 11:01:44AM -0700, Richard Stallman wrote:
> What happens
> to me if I am Joe Q. Ignorant User running my GNU/Linux distribution
> with no source code on the machine, and I give my friend a copy of my
> gcc executable?
>
> Under the GPL, this is only allowed if you obtained this executable
> with a written offer to provide source code, and you must pass along
> a copy of that written offer.
>
> If you got this executable by (for instance) downloading the
> executable from debian.org, where the source was available but you did
> not get it, then you can't redistribute. You have to get the source
> code, and redistribute with the source code.
Eh? I can't redistribute a binary even if I haven't modified it?
This seems a pretty strange requirement. It forbids exactly the kind of
ad hoc file swapping that used to be so popular. Maybe still is. :)
Sure, *programmers* would far rather swap source code than binaries
under most circumstances, but people shuttle binaries around by
themselves all the time. Sometimes just to see if something is broken.
("My /bin/ls doesn't work, can you send me yours?")
This practice is really forbidden by the GPL?
--
G. Branden Robinson | Convictions are more dangerous
Debian GNU/Linux | enemies of truth than lies.
branden@debian.org | -- Friedrich Nietzsche
http://people.debian.org/~branden/ |
Attachment:
pgpBXahJqGOPR.pgp
Description: PGP signature