Mail Archives: cygwin/1999/03/07/17:23:33
> I understand the reasons for these requirements, but IMHO they are
> unnecessarily burdensome for the case of packages which come from
> mirrors of ftp.gnu.org, where we have reasonable assurance they may
> always be found easily.
The FSF updates their software regularly. As soon as they remove an
old version in favor of a new version, you've violated the GPL.
Besides, it doesn't matter if it's easy or not. The GPL is a legal
document which must be honored if you wish to use GPL'd software,
regardless of whether or not you think it matters. If you distribute
a binary that is covered by the GNU GPL, *you* are legally *required*
to distribute the sources that built *that* binary. Those are the
terms, and only the author may decide to waive them.
> In addition, if someone wants the source, they may also wish to be
> checking for a more up to date version, so they will need to go to
> the gnu mirror anyway.
No, the GPL doesn't work that way. The user must be able to get the
sources that built *that exact binary*. Pointing to someone else's
FTP site that may or may not have the right version of the sources is
not acceptable. Where would Linux be if the FSF had decided to remove
gcc 2.7.* from their servers, when gcc 2.8.* couldn't be used to build
the Linux kernel?
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