Glenn Maynard wrote: > On Thu, Jul 22, 2004 at 04:10:24PM -0700, Josh Triplett wrote: > >>If you make the software or a work based on the software available for >>direct use by another party, without actually distributing the software >>to that party, you must either: >> >>a) Distribute the complete corresponding machine-readable source code >>publically under this license, or >>b) Make the source code available to that party, under the all the same >>conditions you would need to meet in GPL section 3 if you were >>distributing a binary to that party. > > Consider the general case: if my entire system was under this license, > then my small web page (serving a few small files at my 30k/sec) would > require me to put the source to Apache, glibc, openssl, and the other > dependencies (and possibly the kernel, depending where you draw the line). > If I was on a modem doing the same thing--which many people do--then even > making only the Apache source available to anyone who has access to the > page (at 5k/sec) is a huge cost. (Each person downloading would tie up > the line for a long time.) > > The costs of sending source code are generally comparable to the costs of > sending binaries; but the costs of sending source are, in many cases, orders > of magnitude greater than the costs of "making it available for use". > > I seem to recall other, more specific cases showing related problems > (where the cost transmitting on some media was on the order of pennies > per sentence), but I can't recall them, or which discussion it came > up in. Anyone remember? First of all, that sounds more like a matter of inconvenience, not a matter of non-freeness. After all, there are probably situations under which it would be a burden to distribute the source for a GPLed binary you are distributing. For example, what if you had a 10MB quota on your FTP server, the binaries were 5MB, and the source was 15MB? Second, that could be made more convenient by allowing you to point to another location if the software is unmodified. Third, you don't necessarily need to distribute the source to the software via the same medium as the service; you could offer to mail a CD, and require compensation for your costs of doing so. - Josh Triplett
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