[CLUE-Tech] GPL loopholes

[Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

On Tue, 2003-07-15 at 20:11, Angelo Bertolli wrote:
> I was always curious as to how certain distros got away with not making 
> the source available to their product as per the GPL.  I went to 
> Libranet's site and I couldn't find anything.  I found an old version of 
> an ISO at linuxiso.org.  I thought the GPL stated that if you 
> distributed a program under the GPL you must also provide the source 
> code.  These days it seems no one cares so much about source as they do 
> about getting the binaries.

Common misconception here: A distributor doesn't have to make source
widely available to every person in the world -- the GPL only requires
that you allow others to freely distribute code and/or binaries and that
you provide source code upon request for a reasonable fee. 

This isn't a "loophole" -- there's no reason why a company should have
to pay for bandwidth to provide code or binaries to everyone in the
world -- if a friend of yours buys Libranet, they can legally copy it
for you (providing everything is GPL'ed...) why should Libranet have to
pay the bandwidth costs to provide you with Linux if you haven't done
business with them? 

> At any rate, I guess the GPL does not state how easy it needs to be to 
> obtain the source code.  So there is one loophole.

Actually, it does -- from the GPL text itself:


3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, under
Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of Sections
1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:  

      * a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
        source code, which must be distributed under the terms of
        Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software
        interchange; or, 
        
      * b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
        years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your
        cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
        machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
        distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a
        medium customarily used for software interchange; or, 
        
      * c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the
        offer to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative
        is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you
        received the program in object code or executable form with such
        an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)

Zonker
-- 
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier
jzb at dissociatedpress.net
Aim: zonkerjoe
http://www.dissociatedpress.net