[clue-tech] CentOS

[Angelo Bertolli]

Jed S. Baer wrote:

>On Thu, 27 Oct 2005 13:29:50 -0400
>Angelo Bertolli wrote:
>
>  
>
>>mike havlicek wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>GPL code can be modified and redistributed at least
>>>for sale. So I may have missed the difference between
>>>propriatory and for sale under copyright.... whoops.
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>Well you're right, RH could set it up so that CentOS had to buy one copy
>>of everything before they could redistribute it, but I don't think they 
>>do that.
>>    
>>
>
>Well, the GPL says,
>
>  =================
>1.  You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source
>code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and
>appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and
>disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this
>License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients
>of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program.
>
>You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you
>may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.
>
>2.  You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of
>it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and distribute such
>modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided that
>you also meet all of these conditions:
>
>[snip]
>
>4.  You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program except
>as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy,
>modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will
>automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties
>who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not
>have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full
>compliance
>
>  =================
>
>i.e. no, they may not sell GPL'd code as such.
>  
>
No, but they also are under no requirement to provide the source code at 
all unless you have bought a copy.  They're not required to offer a 
public FTP server, or distribute the source code, UNLESS they distribute 
a binary.  And then they can choose to provide the source code only to 
the party that they distributed the binary to.

Therefore, they may set it up so that they only provide source code to 
those who have bought a copy.  The GPL merely ensures that those people 
in turn are free to distribute it.

Angelo

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