Not So Simple

Posted Mar 5, 2004 21:49 UTC (Fri) by crythias (guest, #19997)
In reply to: Not So Simple by ncm
Parent article: The GPL Is a License, not a Contract

From Parent:
Furthermore, the GPL doesn't give you the right to sublicense the original work; everybody who gets a copy gets the right to re-distribute from the original licensor, not from you. (You are obliged to extend them rights to re-distribute your own contribution.)

I just wanted to make sure that this point isn't left unanswered:
From the GPL (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt):
1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's
source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you
conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate
copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the
notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty;
and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License
along with the Program.
3. 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: [Provide a reasonable way for recipient to obtain the source from you]
6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the
original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to
these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further
restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.
You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to
this License.
-=-=-=-=-
The GPL is a fully cascadable license. Each recipient of GPL code can be a distributor. The only true option of a copyright holder (not GPL licensee!) is to distribute a (hopefully, revised, updated, better) new program under a different (perhaps, proprietary) license. Even if the copyright holder revokes the GPL, the acceptors of the GPL version of the code (source or object), even 2-3 levels deep, because they accepted a viable license, have to have full faith and credit of the license they received.

Basically, GPL isn't intended to be revokable. If that may be one's intent, one shouldn't use GPL.