Re: Copy vs. (re)distribute

[Måns Rullgård <mans@mansr.com>]

Cyril Brulebois <kibi@debian.org> writes:

> Hi,
>
> since I've got upstreams (having copied some code from others, that's
> why they aren't spelling it out directly) that aren't convinced that
> having the rights to copy, use, modify is insufficient to meet the DFSG.
> From what I recall having read during NM, I've never seen any discussion
> comparing the rights to copy and to (re)distribute. Could someone please
> shed some light, and/or share pointers to some nice reading on that
> topic?
>
> I also believe that "You may use this program as desired without
> restriction" can't be understood as one is free to modify and
> redistribute it; but I'd appreciate your views (anyway, I believe it was
> meant to be free "for real", just not worded adequately -- this one
> dates back to 1986 -- but I'd like to make sure it's not DFSG-free
> as-is).

There is another important aspect you didn't mention.  In addition to
granting rights to use, copy, and redistribute, the license must allow
you to pass on these rights to those receiving copies or modified
versions from you.

I agree that the rights to use, copy, and redistribute are distinct,
and that none of them implicitly include any of the others.

IANAL

-- 
Måns Rullgård
mans@mansr.com