On Wed, Mar 09, 2005 at 10:41:13AM -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Really now? Doesn't a violation of the GPL or any of the OSI-certified open > source licenses constitute piracy?
Yes. You are violating the license and are guilty of copyright violation in the same way. > E.g. by keeping to yourself the revisions to an open-source program? Depends on the open source license. If it's the GPL, it only becomes a violation if you distribute the binary version of your modified program, without at the same time distributing the source code that produced your binary to whoever you gave copies to. A license that compelled those who came under it to automatically publish revisions whether or not they perform subsequent redistribution would not only be quite probably unenforceable as a license (it starts to look more like a contract, as it is now dictating what you can can and cannot do with the code beyond the normal bounds of copyright), it would also never be certified as an Open Source or Free Software license for that reason. -- The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. http://stormwyrm.blogspot.com/ -- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph . To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug . Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie
