Re: [PROPOSAL] Full text of GPL must be included
On Sat, Dec 02, 2000 at 01:19:10PM -0500, Raul Miller wrote:
> Debian advertises a freely redistributable system, with no special need
> to read copyrights before redistributing all or part of it.
Not exactly. If I upload /bin/ls from my system to a BBS without
providing source, I am violating the GPL. If I start distributing
GPL'd .debs without source (whether or not the .debs have a copy of
the GPL), I am violating the GPL.
> If we now claim that our .debs are not redistributable without first
> reading the copyright file, we should post this new claim prominently
> (for example, as part of our home page).
Well, perhaps we *should* point out that a *lot* of the software we
provide *cannot* be redistributed *unless* you also provide the
source. That is, after all, the terms of the GPL, and it clearly
doesn't match what you seem to think.
I still say though that, since we provide the source to our GPL'd
debs, and since the source contains a copy of the GPL, we are not
doing anything wrong. The last paragraph of section three explicitly
idemnifies us against actions of third parties as long as *we*
passively provide both source and binary for download (which we do).
--
Chris Waters xtifr@dsp.net | I have a truly elegant proof of the
or xtifr@debian.org | above, but it is too long to fit into
| this .signature file.
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