Open Source: Paper Tiger, Hidden Problems? (TechNewsWorld) [LWN.net]

Open Source: Paper Tiger, Hidden Problems? (TechNewsWorld)

Posted May 19, 2005 20:11 UTC (Thu) by tcabot (subscriber, #6656)
In reply to: Open Source: Paper Tiger, Hidden Problems? (TechNewsWorld) by proski
Parent article: Open Source: Paper Tiger, Hidden Problems? (TechNewsWorld)

I think it's only true if...

It's never true. Copyright law prevents you from distributing other people's code unless they grant you the right to do it. The GPL grants you the right to distribute code as long as you follow its terms. If you violate the terms then you must stop distributing the GPL code. No more, no less. The GPL does not, and cannot, force you to do anything, but if you violate its terms then copyright law, not the GPL, forces you to stop doing something (e.g. distributing the code).