Ottavio Caruso wrote:
Thank you. Two more questions: 1) Does it make any difference if it is a [hard]disk image or an installation cd?
Not from the GPL's point of view: you're still distributing a GPL work, whether or not it's been installed. But there might be some differences in the exact packages that are present that you'll need to take into account (for instance, a disk image probably doesn't have the Debian Installer in it, but an installation CD will).
2) Is there any template that I can use? For example: "This [distribution OR disk image] contains unmodified binaries from the Debian 'main' repository. Package source are available atpackages.debian.org. Example: package 'bash' http://packages.debian.org/unstable/source/bashWe believe that this way, as a non commercial entity, we comply with art 3,c of the G.P.L. v2.
I think you've missed a post in this thread, in which Francesco Poli observes that Debian is not offering to distribute source code (2b), but instead 'offering equivalent access to copy the source code from the same place', which 'counts as distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy the source along with the object code.'
This means that Debian isn't making an offer to distribute, so you don't get one to pass along.
However if this in not enough for you, you can request a cd with all the sources at the price of $10 + the shipping fee."
Careful: the GPL requires that you provide source 'for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution'. Does it really cost you $10 plus shipping? Also, it requires your offer to be valid for at least three years from when you distribute the software.
The easiest way, by far, to satisfy the GPL would be to simply download the source packages as well, and host them wherever you're hosting the disk images. Then you're 'offering equivalent access' just like Debian does, and have no further source distributing obligations. You could probably assemble such a collection automatically, with a bit of dpkg --get-selections | grep | apt-get source .
Once you've downloaded the source, another method that would work would be to put all the source packages somewhere in the disk image. Then anyone can distribute the disk image without accidentally voiding their GPL.
-- Lewis Jardine lewis@catbox.co.uk