Netfilter gets a GPL-enforcement injunction [LWN.net]

Netfilter gets a GPL-enforcement injunction

Posted Apr 15, 2004 18:30 UTC (Thu) by welinder (guest, #4699)
In reply to: Netfilter gets a GPL-enforcement injunction by dd9jn
Parent article: Netfilter gets a GPL-enforcement injunction

If you maintain a system and change parts of the Linux kernel, you need to hand out the source to the owner of that machine. He will demand that anyway.

That doesn't sound like distribution to me. Each to these steps sound ok to me:

There is a stock kernel on the box, source and all.
You edit some part and recompile.
You delete the source.
You walk out of door.

No distribution, so the GPL does not come into play as far as I can tell. (Well, one could argue that step 2 is some kind of distribution, but at that point there really is source, so no problem.)

Anyone hiring you to work on the box ought to ask for source, of course.

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Netfilter gets a GPL-enforcement injunction

Posted Apr 15, 2004 22:30 UTC (Thu) by tomsi (subscriber, #2306) [Link]

The moment you release the compiled version of the modified kernel, you must also be able give the modified source code the those who have recieved the compiled kernel.

If someone has deleted the changed source code, you can't release a kernel based on that code. Period. Read the GPL again; distributions does'nt have anything to do with it.