From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f65d0,bd4d2fccdf730b16 X-Google-Attributes: gidf65d0,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,1efdd369be089610 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: kenner@lab.ultra.nyu.edu (Richard Kenner) Subject: Re: gnat-3.10 Date: 1997/06/23 Message-ID: <5olocq$ev0$1@news.nyu.edu>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 252013693 References: Organization: New York University Ultracomputer Research Lab Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,gnu.gcc Date: 1997-06-23T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article Ronald Cole writes: >Under Section 3 of the GPL, it seems clear that once you distribute an >object code work based on a GPL'd program, you must release the source >code concurrently. This is a common misconception. See the FSF web pages for a more detailed discussion of this issue. In general, the GPL does not (and cannot) impose any requirement to distribute anything at all, nor to make anything available in any way. It imposes precisely two requirements: (1) to not put any restrictions on redistribution and (2) to make sources available when something is distributed in binary form. The latter includes a requirement that the fee for such distribution be limited to cost. This is the only requirement on limiting prices in the GPL and is because it would otherwise be possible to effectively not provide the sources by setting a very high price on them. Here is Section 3 that you reference. Note that there are options (a) and (b) that would apply to your scenario. You act as though (a) was the only option. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or, b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or, c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.) The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies the executable. If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent access to copy the source code from the same place counts as distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy the source along with the object code.