Re: GPL v3?

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

> if you use code under GPL your program has too be under GPL.

That's the gist of it, although it's only if you distribute your program
that this comes into effect.
Also this is not really the end goal, but rather its means.  The end goal is
to make it possible for anybody to fix/adapt/share/improve the
resulting code.

> Is this not correct (somebody suggested that come companies find legal
> way to use GPL code for proprietary program - how to)?

How can someone work around that?  Well:

1 - by not distributing the program.  E.g. run the program on your
    web-server and only let people use it remotely in their browser.
    Some piece of code might be run on your browser (sent from the
    web-server), so presumably this part of the code would still need to
    be GPL'd, but the rest doesn't.

2 - by embedding the code in a piece of hardware which refuses to run
    anything else.  E.g. the hardware keeps an MD5 checksum of the "blessed"
    firmware, so even if the GPL forces them to distribute their code, their
    customers can't fix/adapt/improve it anyway.

3 - by obtaining a patent on some parts of the code.  The GPL forces you to
    distribute the source code, but nobody can use this source code without
    getting a license for the patent.  So people can't freely share it.

....


        Stefan