MEPIS and GPL Compliance

Posted Aug 3, 2006 12:45 UTC (Thu) by grouch (guest, #27289)
Parent article: MEPIS and GPL Compliance

Q4. Does this mean that if I give a copy of MEPIS to a friend, I also have to give them a copy of the GPLed source code?
A4. According to the Free Software Foundation, if they want the source code, it means exactly that. Whether you give MEPIS to a friend or install it on a computer and sell it, or even if you give it away on the street corner, you are still obligated by the restrictions of the GPL license.
"Warren"

It looks to me like he didn't read section 3 of the GPL. Since Mepis is or was doing commercial distribution, 3.a. and 3.b. apply. If Mepis had complied with either of those two obligations, then anyone handing out a Mepis CD would be covered under 3.c., because the "offer to distribute corresponding source code" would be with or on those CDs.

Noncommercial distribution, such as "give a copy [...] to a friend", lets you point upstream for the source: "Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source code." That information should have been on every Mepis CD shared.

That whole page looks like a whine, to me.