Re: Liscences

["Georg C. F. Greve" <greve gnu org>]

 || On Thu, 25 Feb 1999 11:31:30 -0600 (CST)
 || Roland Dreier <droland@mail.math.okstate.edu> wrote: 

 rd> Unfortunately this definite answer is in fact definitely wrong. 

I'm sorry but that is not true.

 rd>  What the GPL actually states is:
 rd> "Accompany [the executable] with a written offer, valid for at least three
 rd> years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of
 rd> physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable
 rd> copy of the corresponding source code...." 
 rd> So some additional cost is allowed.  

Well-  "...no more than your cost of physically performing source
distribution..." clearly states that you may let the customer pay for
your costs of the source distribution itself but *additional* costs
are *not* ok. Which is what I said.

This paragraph is in there for a reason: It seeks to discourage people 
from not putting the sourcecode on their distributions for a monetary
advantage. It is against the spirit of the GNU Project to earn money
by restricting access to the sourcecode.

The preferred way should always be to distribute the sourcecode along
with the program/distribution - which is what most people do since the 
other way doesn't pose any advantage...

Once again:

 You should *not* earn money by restricting access to the sourcecode
 or by restraining/hiding the freedoms that the GPL/LGPL guarantees
 the user.


So what I said is still valid:

Earn as much money as you want with the distribution of GPL/LGPL'ed
software but *do not* restrict access to the sourcecode or the
licenses. 
The best way is usually to have the sourcecode and the licenses
included in the distribution. Some smart people actually use it as a
sales argument: "Hey - this software comes with the sourcecode  and
you may actually *change* and *copy* it as much as you want !!"


To get back to the guy who asked about it originally: Do not allow
anyone to confuse you - for GPL/LGPL licensed software it is
absolutely okay to sell it and noone may tell you how much you may
charge for it. Just put the sourcecode and licenses in there and
you're set legally. If you want to be nice you'll also include a list
of all authors.


_Please_ let's stop this now. If anyone else has questions about the
GNU Project in general or the licenses especially don't hestitate to
ask *via private mail* to greve@gnu.org.


Regards,
		Georg

-- 
Georg C. F. Greve <greve@gnu.org>
"People who fight may lose. People who do not
fight have already lost." -- Bertolt Brecht

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