Source Distribution and the GNU GPL (NewsForge) [LWN.net]

Source Distribution and the GNU GPL (NewsForge)

Posted Jul 17, 2006 21:23 UTC (Mon) by vondo (guest, #256)
Parent article: Source Distribution and the GNU GPL (NewsForge)

The main thing that may change, as I understand it, is allowing source distribution via the network even if you can only get the binary as part of an embedded product (think routers) or on CDs. This sounds reasonable. What did not sound reasonable was his suggestion at the beginning of the article that all binary CDs also come with source CDs by default.

For a single program, they probably both fit on a single CD and there is no issue. For a linux distro, it may take 5 CDs and the sources may take another 8. That's waste I don't need or want. Already when I install a new OS I set up yum/urmpi/apt to use network sources for later package additions rather than the CDs. So I have 5 CDs I keep around or throw away. I don't want another 5 for sources I will *never* look at.

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Source Distribution and the GNU GPL (NewsForge)

Posted Jul 17, 2006 23:32 UTC (Mon) by xtifr (subscriber, #143) [Link]

> What did not sound reasonable was his suggestion at the beginning of the
> article that all binary CDs also come with source CDs by default.

That's not a change, though. That's the way it is now, and will be unchanged in GPLv3. And he's talking about the convenience of the distributor here. It is frequently more convenient for the distributor to provide those source discs up-front than to make a three-year offer.

It might have been nice if the GPLv3 had extended the "equivalent access" clause to include CD distribution, so that CD vendors didn't _have_ to provide the source as long as they _offered_ it for no more than than a nominal charge (which is basically how it works for FTP vendors). But as it is, this aspect of the GPL merely remains unchanged, and if you don't like it, you should have started complaining years ago! ;)

p.s. for newer versions, if your bandwidth is so limited that you want a CD in the first place, you might want to look into getting source patches. Then those source CDs will be useful to you _and_ you'll still have up-to-date code!

Source Distribution and the GNU GPL (NewsForge)

Posted Jul 18, 2006 3:31 UTC (Tue) by kirkengaard (subscriber, #15022) [Link]

A) There isn't a choice in the matter if you get a CD distribution. You must receive the source. Legal environment of software under the GPL and all that.

B) As a user of the bleeding edge, I do all of my Slackware installs from bootable DVDs burned from the -current tree. Because I value the project, I subscribe to the stable series CD set releases. I have a stack of five four-disc cases, three of which are still in shrink. I get my trees with wget and maintain them with rsync. So the whole thing is superfluous to me, but were I to be the sort that complains about not needing the source, I could simply get the directory containing the binaries and ignore the source directory. This is not an exclusive strategy; if you really, really don't want the sources to take up space (of whatever sort), just download the parts you want of whatever distro you use. Just realize that you can't pass them along to anyone without the sources, whereas I can drop my full-tree DVDs on anybody who wants a copy.

In the end, however, space and convenience of storage are not the principal issue here. The freedom of the recipient is greater when the source comes with the software, because the source *is* the software, and it is often also the best documentation on the software. God help you if you have to rebuild a package without it.