GPL compliance

[Daniel Carrera]

On Fri, 2006-30-06 at 11:24 -0400, ubuntu at rio.vg wrote:
> I don't see it as all that fuzzy, and if anything, it's looser, not more
> restrictive.

I don't know, IANAL. Far be it for me to say whether it's looser or more
restrictive. I honestly don't know what constitutes a "customary
medium". It might be that you are right and on-line distribution is
enough. And I do agree with you that whether this medium is convenient
or not to the user is probably not relevant. But I wouldn't bet the farm
on what constitutes a customary medium.


> The requirement, in simple terms is any one of the following:
> 
> a) Provide the source code right along with the binaries.
> b) Provide the source code somewhere else.
> c) Point to a 3rd party that will provide the source code.

I hesitate to summarize the GPL so much, given that we are trying to
figure out a relatively fine point of the license. If I was trying to
explain the GPL briefly to someone, I might say something similar to
what you said, but your definition loses the details; and it is the
details that we are talking about here.

I disagree with your summaries for (b) and (c) btw. If I wanted to make
them almost as short, I would say:

b) Be willing to give the sources for the cost of the media for 3 years.
c) If you got the binary under (b), then point to the third party that
gave you that offer.


> Don't try to parse a legal document as if it was a C program.  When it
> gets to court, standards of reasonableness apply.

Maybe so, but then it depends on whether a judge considers online
distribution of sources the same as accompanying the binary with the
sources under a customary medium (when what you got was a CD). He might
decide it's the same, but I wouldn't bet on that.

> Someone trying to suggest
> that the internet is not often used to download programs would be
> laughed at.

I'm sure you've seen a few arguments that you thought were technically
laughable go through in court.

Cheers,
Daniel.
-- 
http://opendocumentfellowship.org
  "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the
  unreasonable man tries to adapt the world to himself.
  Therefore all progress depends on unreasonable men."
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