Bernhard Kuhn wrote:
>
> "Motiwala, Yusuf Ibrahim (Yusuf)" wrote:
> >
> > Since the linux kernel is protected by GPL, would not it required for
> > BlueCat
> > to release the complete source without any fee? same can be asked for
> > lineo.
I'm not sure why everyone is making it so complicated. The GNU license and
terms are fairly clear and well documented.
Linux is an OS. If you modify the OS, then you are obliged to make those
modifications public and freely available (so that others can see what you've
done and possibly improve on it and/or modify it).
If you write an *application* program which runs on top of Linux, you can
do what you damn well please with it. That is, you can make it "open-source",
you can distribute it however you please, you can refuse to offer the source,
etc.
As an example - WordPerfect runs on top of Windows. If Windows was
distributed under the same rules as Linux, would they have to give it away?
The answer is NO. They haven't modified Windows (in which case the
changes would be required to be public). They've created a program which
belongs to them and they can do whatever they want with it - release it
as GPL or whatever.
For some strange reason people seem to think that *anything* that has to do with
Linux *must* be given away and *must* be free (source and all). This is
simply not true. If you modify Linux or other pieces of it that have been
released under GNU, then YES - you must abide by the terms stated by the
authors. If you write your own code/application that simply uses Linux as
an OS (and does not modify it) - you can do whatever you want!
Time to get the record straight - and let's get on with it. If I write something
that runs under Linux, I DO NOT have to give it away! I may choose to - for the
sake of having others improve it - but I do NOT HAVE TO...
Wish more people would take the time to read the GPL and/or the terms under
which other authors have released their code. In particular, the fallacy about
"just use BSD" would finally be put to bed!
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