Re: Knoppix and GPL
On Sun, Apr 27, 2003 at 05:54:15PM -0400, Sam Hartman wrote:
> >>>>> "Oliver" == Oliver M Bolzer <oliver@gol.com> writes:
>
> Oliver> On Sun, Apr 27, 2003 at 01:39:32AM -0400, Sam Hartman
> Oliver> <hartmans@debian.org> wrote...
> >> I believe that the Knoppix CD is violating the GPL by not
> >> distributing source code to GPL packages that they distribute.
> >> In particular, I looked at
> >> http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html#license and found
> >> the following text:
>
> Oliver> To my knowledge Klaus Knopper has repeatedly stated that
> Oliver> he would send the source to anyone if they sent him the
> Oliver> needed number of blank CD-Rs. IMHO that's a reasonable
> Oliver> way to distribute source, though slightly
> Oliver> inconvenient. The blank CD-Rs would be the "cost of
> Oliver> physically performing source distribution".
>
> And if they included a written offer to do this valid for three years,
> I'd agree that was sufficient and go away.
May I quote from the written offer, that is included on every Knoppix-CD
in the KNOPPIX directory:
"Since this is a genuine open source project, subject to the GNU General
Public License, the source code for the KNOPPIX-specific packages is
available via the Internet at http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/sources/.
You may find the sources for the installed Debian packages on the
various Debian mirrors. Additionally, you can order the sources
directly from Knopper.Net for the cost of material, copying, packaging
and postage. This offer is valid for 3 years, counting from the build
date of this CD-Rom."
Regards
-Klaus Knopper
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