On Sat, Apr 26, 2008 at 12:43:42AM +0200, Martin Schr?der wrote:
| 2008/4/26 Marco Peereboom <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
| > Huh?  The wishes are gpl; the patch is available so all gpl requirements
| >  have been met.  Why in the world is this being debated?
| >
| >  If your logic was true all linux distributions would be breaking the
| >  rules because everyone patches stuff.  How did you even come up with
| >  this?
| 
| Have you read section 2 of the GPL lately?

Just did, actually.

| I agree that for "normal" patches (security fixes etc.) this is not an
| issue - but only because nobody cares. These patches still create
| modified versions, but it's a gray area.

I'm not quite sure how you can defend this being a gray area. Changing
the code, gives a modified version. Changing indentation may be a
gray area, but actual code changes are not.

Note that the modified version of the code is not distributed as such.
The portstree contains a patch to change the original distributed
sources, meeting condition a) of section 2 of the GPL. Condition b)
also is met (which is quite obvious). In this specific case, nothing
is changed about announcements for interactive use etc, so condition
c) is also met.

| I argue that the anti-DRM patch is not a "normal" patch as stated
| above but goes further and as such creates a modified version were you
| must follow secion 2.

It is indeed modified, it offers (in this case) more functionality to
the user. However, since the three requirements from section 2 are all
met, I see no issue.

| It boils down to: When is a modification large enough so that section
| 2 applies?

Simply be careful, assume that any modification is large enough for
section 2 to apply. As long as you meet the three requirements, you're
golden. If you disagree (which I fear), could you please state what
part of section 2 you are actually referring to ? What is the problem
according to you ?

Cheers,

Paul 'WEiRD' de Weerd

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