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Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2005 01:57:41 -0800
From: Brian Dessent <brian AT dessent DOT net>
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To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: Proper distribution of cygwin-dependent software.
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Oliver Wienand wrote:

> had I to ship the sources or it is sufficient to install an unmodified
> version of Cygwin setup, which allows to get all the sources?

No, you can't just point people to the cygwin mirrors to get sources,
even if your binaries are unmodified.  You have to provide them as a
download on your own site (or in the same location as your binaries,
e.g. alongside them on the CD.)  The GPL faq has an entry about this.

As a mental experiment, what would happen if the cygwin project suddenly
shut down and took its website and mirrors offline?  Now you would be
violating the GPL, because anyone to whom you gave binaries would have
no means to get the source.  This is why the GPL requires that source
and binary be made available side by side, not one from one site and
another from somewhere else.

Brian

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