Re: In GNU's own words... (was: Re: [PROPOSAL] Full text of GPL...)
On Thu, Nov 30, 2000 at 02:13:38PM +0100, Nils Lohner wrote:
> - Is a written offer for source code included with distribution of just
> binaries? I'm tempted to file a bug against apt to ensure that it prints
> that 'apt-get source <package> _must_ be run to ensure GPL compliance!' for
> every package installed ... :)
>From the GPL, Section 3:
If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering
access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
access to copy the source code from the same place counts as
distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not
compelled to copy the source along with the object code.
...so it's obviously not necessary to force the download of the source.
What about people who buy just the binary CDs from LSL or Cheapbytes?
Would *they* be in violation of the GPL? </mild sarcasm>
Hmm, this whole discussion kinda makes me think that I might be
in violation of the GPL while distributing my *own* software;
I've got a few small scripts that I wrote and found useful and
made available for download at <http://www.billjonas.com/code/>
in the hopes that they might be a little useful to someone else.
I generally include the disclaimer of warranty in the comments and a
pointer to <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html>, but I don't include
the entire text of the GPL in the comments (Hey, what's a few tens of K
among friends?), or even have a copy of it on my site. I suppose that
under a strict reading of the GPL, I myself am breaking the license
under which I have chosen to make my (admittedly very modest) works
available. </irony> Am I, as the copyright holder, in violation of my
own license? (/me had considered going with BSD for scripts, as they
are not easily distributed *without* source... of course, I recently
found out about B::C and related for Perl.)
IMO, I think the cleanest solution would be to
include the full text of the GPL in the package at
/usr/[share/]doc/<package>/{COPYING,GPL,LICENSE,<whatever-you-want-to-call-it>}
and then, in the postinst, replace it with a symlink to
/usr/share/common-licenses/<license-file> if it exists. Or maybe even
simply include /usr/share/common-licenses/<license-file> in the package,
but mark it as a conffile.
--
Bill Jonas | "If you haven't gotten where you're going,
bill@billjonas.com | you aren't there yet." --George Carlin
http://www.billjonas.com/ | http://www.harrybrowne.org/
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