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Not quiteNot quitePosted Mar 9, 2011 17:00 UTC (Wed) by corbet (editor, #1)In reply to: Red Hat and the GPL by RogerOdle Parent article: Red Hat and the GPL Without addressing the real point of your comment, let me note that your point "1" above is incorrect. Unless the source distribution accompanies the binary distribution, the GPL obligates distributors to make the code available to any third party who asks for it. That's an important aspect of the license to understand.
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Not quite Posted Mar 9, 2011 17:47 UTC (Wed) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]
RogerOdle's comment would have been correct *if* RH was the sole copyright holder of the kernel. Of course, it is not.
Not quite Posted Mar 9, 2011 21:44 UTC (Wed) by RogerOdle (subscriber, #60791) [Link]
[IANAL]
I do not see an obligation to distribute source to third-parties in the GPL. It declares the rights of those immediately downstream from the distributor to receive source code. Third-party rights are unclear. A third party is entitled to receive source from the second party in the direct distribution chain but how do these rights propagate upward to the original distributor?
I see no obligation to distribute source to parties that are not in the distribution chain. If you allow public downloading of binaries then each download is a distribution and source must be available for each download. If you distribute to specific parties then your obligation is to those specific parties but not to the public.
Section 10. Automatic Licensing of Downstream Recipients.
This section releases the distributor from obligations to enforce the GPL terms on third parties.
This may be nit picking but it is important to know what you obligations and rights are.
Not quite Posted Mar 9, 2011 21:58 UTC (Wed) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link] I do not see an obligation to distribute source to third-parties in the GPL. It declares the rights of those immediately downstream from the distributor to receive source code. Third-party rights are unclear. From the license text:
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... 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... (Emphasis added). Seems pretty clear to me...
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