The issue, as I understand it, isn't about availability of source, but extra restrictions applied to the App's license (whatever that is) which is incompatible with the GPL.
from <http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/terms.html#APPS>: > You agree that the Services and certain Products include security technology > that limits your use of Products and that, whether or not Products are > limited by security technology, you shall use Products in compliance with the > applicable usage rules established by Apple and its principals (“Usage > Rules”), and that any other use of the Products may constitute a copyright > infringement. and from the Usage Rules section: > (i) You may download and use an application from the Mac App Store (“Mac App > Store Product”) for personal, non-commercial use on any Apple-branded > products running Mac OS X that you own or control (“Mac Product”). > > (ii) If you are a commercial enterprise or educational institution, you may > download a Mac App Store Product for use either (a) by a single individual on > each of the Mac Product(s) that you own or control, or (b) by multiple > individuals on a single shared Mac Product that you own or control. For > example, a single employee may use a Mac App Store Product on both the > employee’s desktop Mac Product and laptop Mac Product, or multiple students > may serially use the Product on a single Mac Product located at a resource > center or library. > > (iii) Use may require sign-in with the Apple ID used to download the Mac App > Store Product from the Mac App Store. Mac App Store Products can be updated > through the Mac App Store only. Essentially - the App Store EULA dictates how you can use and distribute the binary you download, which is a big incompatibility with the GPL. For some more background, the FSF has a good article on why the GPL and App Store are in conflict: <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/more-about-the-app-store-gpl-enforcement> -- Steve Holt P.S. Please don't take any of this as a value judgement either for or against the GPL. This is merely the situation we're in as I understand it. P.P.S. I am not a lawyer. On Jan 12, 2011, at 9:22 AM, Joe Hildebrand wrote: > On 1/11/11 3:43 PM, "Evan Schoenberg, M.D." <[email protected]> wrote: > >> In the current agreement for the App Store - on all platforms - there are >> several provisions which restrict distribution. These are incompatible with >> the GPL. > > Could you provide us with the relevant provisions, please? > > What about out-of-the-box approaches like providing (all of!) the source as > a part of the application download? > > -- > Joe Hildebrand > >
