cdrtools - a tale of two licenses [LWN.net]

cdrtools - a tale of two licenses

Posted Aug 14, 2006 16:12 UTC (Mon) by bfields (subscriber, #19510)
In reply to: cdrtools - a tale of two licenses by dmantione
Parent article: cdrtools - a tale of two licenses

"Ok, my last attempt to make it clear."

Oh, you're clear enough; it's just that you're also wrong:

"Let's say I contribute a patch. I put the patch under GPL and give it to
you.

"You now have permission to distribute it."

Assuming the patch is nontrivial, I only have permission to distribute it if I meet the requirements of the GPL.

"But my patch does not contain a Makefile. So, *my* source (the part I own copyright) does not contain a Makefile."

That's correct. In particular, the Makefile is not automatically covered by the GPL.

"So, if you distribute binaries and source, you are distributing the code
*I* own. But *I* did not include anything to build it, so I cannot force
you write such a build tool."

If I distribute binaries, presumably I built them somehow. Since the binaries are now a derived work of your patch, I am required to get your permission before I can distribute the binaries. By giving me the patch only under the GPL, you've said that you only give your permission if I also tell people how to build those binaries. So I'm required to give out any makefiles I used, regardless of whether those makefiles are a derived work or not.

There's nothing in copyright law to prevent you from making a requirement like that, even though that requirement in part affects the distribution of a work you didn't write yourself. People need your permission to distribute your code, so you can make them do pretty arbitrary things to get that permission.

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