----- "Ron Jensen" a écrit : > On Mon, 2009-03-16 at 20:30 -0500, Curtis Olson wrote: > > Here's a hypothetical question. > > > > Let's say some company "A" builds an internal product prototype > that > > incorporates FlightGear as part of a larger aggregate system. > > Murky waters here. And a slippery slope to be on. > > > Let's say they even make a few small changes to FlightGear. Now > they > > give away a demo system > > This is distributing. If there were no changes simply pointing to > the > FG source at cvs.flightgear.org would be sufficient. However, as > they > distributed a modified executable, they owe the community the > modified > sources to that executable. That is simply the "cost" of using > flightgear. > > > to a couple different potential customers and say, "Hey what do > you > > think." They haven't rolled out an actual product, they haven't > had > > any actual sales. No customer has paid any money for the copy of > the > > system. > > > > Has the GPL been violated? > > Probably. > > >From the GPL v2 license preamble: > Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have > the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for > this > service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if > you > want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new > free programs; and that you know you can do these things. > > "You" above refers to both company "A" and the potential customers > that > received flightgear from company "A." Company "A" has the freedom to > sell copies of a modified flightgear. The potential customers have a > right to the modified source code, and the freedom to further > distribute > the modified sources and binary. "You" above also applies to anyone > who > receives a copy of the modified flightgear. > > So if company "A" is distributing a modified binary copy of > flightgear > without offering the modified sources, they have violated the GPL.
If I can wear my Devil's advocate hat : What if the receiver of the modified software doesn't require the sources ? Does the GPL require that the modified source should be distributed to people that shouldn't use the modified source ? -Fred -- Frédéric Bouvier http://my.fotolia.com/frfoto/ Photo gallery - album photo http://fgsd.sourceforge.net/ FlightGear Scenery Designer ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Apps built with the Adobe(R) Flex(R) framework and Flex Builder(TM) are powering Web 2.0 with engaging, cross-platform capabilities. Quickly and easily build your RIAs with Flex Builder, the Eclipse(TM)based development software that enables intelligent coding and step-through debugging. Download the free 60 day trial. http://p.sf.net/sfu/www-adobe-com _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
