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List:       debian-devel
Subject:    Re: Corel's distro and the GPL
From:       John Goerzen <jgoerzen () complete ! org>
Date:       2000-04-16 3:33:19
[Download RAW message or body]

Interesting discussion.  Wichert has posted the location of Corel's
sources, which to the casual observer (me) appear to be valid.

However, what you are saying is that since they are on a different
site or not "right next" to the binaries, this could potentially
violate the GPL?

I am wondering if you might consider addressing this situation in
GPLv3, since to me it appears to be an area of vagueness in GPLv2.
Ie: Just what exactly is "right next" to something, why does it matter
if the files are on separate file servers?  But more importantly, does
the GPL explicitly require this?

I'm not asking these questions for rhetorical effect; I am generally
curious what the answer is since it seems to follow in a non-obvious
fashion from the GPL.

Free Software Foundation <gnu@gnu.org> writes:

> John Goerzen wrote:
> 
> > Her'es a question.  Debian, to my knowledge, does not include such an
> > offer because we distribute source with our binaries in every medium.
> > However, let's say that someone downloads only a binary of CD1.  Are we at
> > fault for not making a written offer available there for the source ISOs?
> 
> If you provided that someone with access to the source code on the same FTP
> site where that someone got the binaries, then you have complied with the
> GPL and the Lesser GPL.
> 
> It is up to *that* someone to get the source code and redistribute it with
> the binaries when she redistributes.  If she doesn't do this, the violation
> the GPL would be hers, not that of Software in the Public Interest.
> 
>  
> > If not, is our situation really different from Corel's?
> 
> Corel's situation may be different if they don't provide the source code for
> download right next to the binaries (or, instead, provide a written offer
> for said source code).
> 
> I say may be different because we are still collecting details, and the
> reports of whether or not the source code is available seem to be
> conflicting.
> 
> If anyone can definitively tell us (the FSF) where the source code which
> matches the binaries is available from, we'd appreciate it.  (Please tell
> us, too, what binary distribution the source code is believed to match.)
> 
> -- 
> Bradley M. Kuhn, Assistant to the President of the FSF
> Free Software Foundation     |  Phone: +1-617-542-5942
> 59 Temple Place, Suite 330   |  Fax:   +1-617-542-2652
> Boston, MA 02111-1307  USA   |  Web:   http://www.gnu.org
> 
> 
> -- 
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-- 
John Goerzen   Linux, Unix consulting & programming   jgoerzen@complete.org |
Developer, Debian GNU/Linux (Free powerful OS upgrade)       www.debian.org |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The 579,928th digit of pi is 4.


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