Subject: Re: Another GPL violation: Re: Minimalistic Build-Environmentforwin32 (~7.5MB)
From: "Patrick J. LoPresti" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked]
Date: 25 Mar 2003 12:36:15 -0500

Charles Wilson <[email-masked]> writes:

> FWIW: I am not a lawyer.

And therefore, everything you have said may be safely ignored.

Until this alleged GPL violator receives a "cease and desist" order
from an attorney, he has no reason to even consider modifying his
behavior.  (Except to be polite, of course.  But at this point, he has
little reason to want to be polite.  And providing a simple link to
the Cygwin sources is nice enough to begin with.)

I really love it when non-lawyers talk about law, because it's
hilarious.  Engineers are the best.  They have this fascinating notion
that laws mean what their written text says.  Actually, laws mean
whatever the courts decide they mean.  The apparent written text is
not terribly important.  Want evidence?  Consider what happens when
the text of a law, in your opinion, conflicts with a court's
interpretation.  Guess to whom the people with badges and guns are
going to listen?

Your notions about what constitutes a "GPL violation" are nothing more
than your opinion.  And you are not even qualified to have one, much
less to express it.  Much like the guy on the street corner expressing
his opinion about the end of the world, it is kind of boring.

I hope everyone cheerfully ignores all these accusations of "GPL
violations" and proceeds exactly as they have been.  I also hope the
people making these accusations find better things to do with their
time, but I admit to being pessimistic.

Cheers!

 - Pat

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