Re: [PROPOSAL] Full text of GPL must be included
tb@becket.net (Thomas Bushnell, BSG) writes:
> So I'm pretty sure, despite my immediately previous messages, that we
> must distribute the GPL in the actual .deb of the relevant package.
> However, nothing compels us to *install* that in any way.
Then what is the point?
Why even bother to include the license if it is embedded in the file and
we don't do anything with it?
Obviously, the GPL wants the recipient of the software to have a copy of
the license for a reason. Now, who is going to argue that Debian has
not gone out of its way to champion the cause for free software?
Indeed, our entire distribution is based on this ideal. I don't think
that retrofitting our packages to bury a copy of the GPL in them
accomplishes anything. If we are trying to comply with the letter of
the GPL (which I don't agree is the case), then we certainly are not
abiding by the spirit of the license.
Think about it.
Personally, I think that it is better to have the GPL as a central part
of our distribution (as it is now), and we should point to it as often
as possible.
- Brian
Reply to: