[Gimp-developer] Gimp on a Commercial CD-Rom ?

[Michael Schumacher]

-------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Datum: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:05:58 +0000
> Von: "Alpár Jüttner" <alpar at cs.elte.hu>
> An: Michael Schumacher <schumaml at gmx.de>
> CC: gimp-developer at lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
> Betreff: Re: [Gimp-developer] Gimp on a Commercial CD-Rom ?

> 
> > > By the way, isn't it enough to publish it on the net? E.g. one could
> > > provide a link to the gimp website for the original source, plus
> publish
> > > their modification on their own website (or include only these parts
> on
> > > the CD)?
> > 
> > This is handled by the FAQ:
> >
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0-faq.html#SourceAndBinaryOnDifferentSites
> 
> That text is just as fussy as the whole GPL license. It may be because
> of my poor English, 

The GNU GPL is available in several translation, see 
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0-translations.html

Some of the sites might also offer translations of the FAQ, I didn't check this though.


> but even after reading it twice, I have no idea if
> it is legal for example (assuming I made some extension to GIMP)

>       * to sell a CD with my version of GIMP and provide the its source
>         on my web-site.

This is covered by an FAQ entry:

http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-faq.html#DistributeWithSourceOnInternet

GNU GPL v3 does make this legal; it's also common for GNU GPL v2 software, but you are required to ship the source by other means if someone requests this.


>       * to provide the source of my changes on my site, add a link to
>         GIMP website without any agreement, but periodically check if
>         gimp.org and the gimp project is alive, and publish the source
>         on my site only if they are dead.

No.

See http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-faq.html#DistributingSourceIsInconvenient

It's in your own best interest to provide the source. Otherwise you're unnecessarily providing leverage to someone who might be looking for a reason to get your company into legal trouble.


HTH,
Michael
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