Mail Archives: djgpp/1998/05/22/21:56:36
> >This would be appreciated, but not legally required, and not
> >sufficient to comply with the GNU GPL: If you provide the binaries,
> >providing sources is your responsibility, not mine.
>
> I was wandering about this. Does this mean that I have to force the
> sources on a customer if I'd use GPL things, or does this simply
> mean that I have to give it to him if he asks for it? I'd assume the
> latter.
It's a responsibility, not a requirement. You don't *have* to give
them the sources, but you *have* to give them the option. The
recipient always has the option of not accepting the sources, but you
do not have the option of not providing them if they ask. You have
three choices when distributing binaries:
(from the GPL; http://www.delorie.com/gnu/dl/prep/COPYING-2.0)
3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1
and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years,
to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of
physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable
copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the
terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for
software interchange; or,
c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to
distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is allowed
only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the
program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in
accord with Subsection b above.)
The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source
code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any
associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to
control compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a
special exception, the source code distributed need not include
anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary
form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the
operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component
itself accompanies the executable.
If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering
access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
access to copy the source code from the same place counts as
distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not
compelled to copy the source along with the object code.
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