[wellylug] GPL Licence

[David Antliff]

On Wed, 22 Sep 2004, Jethro Carr wrote:
> How come people like ISPS, Mirrors, etc, can host binary versions of
> distros without providing source code access? Isn't this against the
> GPL?

It's just a mirror - an extension of the original distribution and part of
the original distribution mechanism. As long as the original publisher
provides source (even if it's given away for free, it must be made
available if requested) then the mirrors are fine. If the original
publisher violates the GPL by refusing to supply source, then the mirrors
are ethically required to discontinue hosting.

Also, the binaries themselves should contain information on how to request
the source from the original publisher, therefore the mirror indirectly
DOES provide a means to get the source.

That's the theory as I understand it anyway. A few oddities exist - I
believe you are not obligated to provide the source in electronic or
web-based format and if you want you can send the requester a hardcopy.
Makes recompilation a bit difficult but it's not against the letter of the
GPL.

If anyone knows better, feel free to correct me. I wrote an in-house
whitepaper on opensource licensing almost two years ago but most of the
details I have forgotten :(

-- 
David.