Subject: Re: GPL Violation
From: Robert Citek <[email-masked]>
To: DJ Delorie <[email-masked]>
Cc: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 17:48:19 -0600

Hello DJ,

At 06:10 PM 2/20/2003 -0500, DJ Delorie wrote:
>This is acceptable, but GPL 3b requires that you provide a *written*
>promise to that effect.  IMHO it only needs to be sufficiently legal
>to be a binding contract - i.e. dated and authenticatable.  How you
>acheive that is up your lawyer ;-) And (this is the fun part) it needs
>to be effective for three years, so keep a copy of that source cd, as
>you must ship the exact corresponding sources, not some random newer
>version.

Lawyer?  Three years?  We don't even have funds to buy pizza and beer let
alone a lawyer.  We are not in the software distribution business.  That's
what Red Hat is for.  That is why I buy and recommend Red Hat.

Our LUG is in the business of getting a bunch of techies together to swap
stories, ideas, food, drink, and software.  To that end, we just want to
have something that our members can share with their friends and play with.
 If they use it and copy it, that's great.  If they think it stinks, give
it back to the LUG.  And if they want updates, support, or sources, they
should call Red Hat.

>> but also encourages the members to go to the primary repository
>> (cygwin.com) for the sources.
>
>The GPL forbids this.  It allows *actual* costs, but no more.  But be
>fair to yourself - figure out media costs, hours spent, shipping,
>overhead, etc.  

This can be quite significant.  That's why I said hefty.  Imagine if I put
out a new CD a week with updates and tweaks.  This turns into a major
headache to keep track of which sources went with which CD, especially for
three years.  I would like to offer something that says "here's a CD to
tryout and if you like it, we recommend getting the real thing from Red
Hat/Cygwin."  But if I'm required to maintain all those CDs, I want to be
compensated to make it worth my time and effort.  That is, from the few
people that request the sources, I want to be able to quit my current job
and retire from their payment.

My goal is to get more developers involved in Cygwin by showing them what
Cygwin can do.  Giving them a CD with pointers goes a long way to that end.

Regards,
- Robert

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