Hi everyone, the request to stop redistributing Debian in Germany sparked an interesting conversation in identi.ca:
http://identi.ca/conversation/69498913 In that conversation Bradley Kuhn said: bkuhn @vinzv, Please note: *technically speaking*, !Debian project itself violates !GPlv2 w/ #torrent distribution too! All who use it infringe ©. Richard Fontana does not agree: fontana @bkuhn I think to some degree you are engaging in #FUD on the # bittorrent !GPL issue Asking Bradley for some clarification he said: bkuhn @mem, problem is question of informing #torrent users when source/binary torrents are separate. See !GPLv3 §6(e) & various supporting docs. The best thing I was able to find to provide some light into the issue was: mem @bkuhn ah, here: http://gplv3.fsf.org/bittorrent-dd2.pdf/view #torrent #gpl Now, back to the Debian case, Bradley seems to think that providing a method to download the source (e.g. apt-get source) is not enough. If I understand it correctly, he's saying we must do something extra to comply with GPLv2§3: a) provide the source *in* the .iso; b) provide a written offer and all that; or c) show that we have a written offer from upstream. a) is not going to happen, we don't have c) in the general case so b) it is (from his point of view). My interpretation of the whole thing is that in order to comply with the terms of the GPLv2, we should put yet another file, README.GPLv2, in the .iso explaining how to obtain the sources and accompany that with the offer to provide source for three years, etc, etc, etc per GPLv2§3(b). I have to say that I'm still not 100% clear on how the violation is happening, but this was obviously a real concern during the drafting of the GPLv3, since the new version does contain clauses meant to deal with this. If I'm not mistaken our very own MRJ raised the issue during that process. My own concern is that when using Bittorrent, the people downloading the .iso start distributing the software *before* they had a chance to read the license. By redistributing you are already excersicing your rights under the GPLv2, which means you have accepted all the terms and conditions. What do you think? Marcelo -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-legal-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20110424231141.GA22677@esk
