Re: xchat is now shareware in windoze
Raul Miller writes:
> On Wed, Oct 20, 2004 at 03:19:41PM +0200, Giacomo A. Catenazzi wrote:
> > Note: source is GPL, but for windoze binaries it is *required*
> > a registration.
>
> After looking at this for a bit, and thinking about it, it looks like
> the shareware is a distribution charge, which is allowed under the GPL.
It is not a distribution charge; it is a charge on continued use,
which is not allowed under the GPL.
The shareware version does not provide source code for things like the
key checker (required by the GPL), does not provide a script or
directions for linking against a different version of gtk+ (required
by the LGPL), and apparently omits copyright notices (required by the
GPL, LGPL and the OpenSSL libraries used). Unless the license texts
are embedded in a prominent part of the "shareware" xchat.exe
executable, they are not included in the shareware version, so users
do not know what the licenses really are.
> Note that this has some implications about the rights of users of xchat,
> whether or not they register their shareware. [Users who wish to
> redistribute are allowed to, as long as they satsify GPL's requirements.]
Users cannot satisfy the GPL's requirements for redistribution, since
they do not have the source code to rebuild the key-checking code, and
they do not have scripts or directions to build minigtk.dll.
Michael Poole
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