On Sat, 17 Jan 2004 10:44:45 +0100, Axel Thimm wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 16, 2004 at 04:01:04PM -0600, Chris Spencer wrote:
> > On Fri, 2004-01-16 at 14:46, Axel Thimm wrote:
> >
> > > All true, but the last, if the product is made _publicly_ available,
> > > like RHEL3, Progeny update services etc.
> >
> > It's not _publicly_ available. They only owe source code to those
> > people that have purchased it.
>
> And to any people that have received copies from any of them.
>
> Sorry, let me rephrase (I am not a lawyer, and neither speaks me as
> one ;): If it is _offered_ in _public_, as opposed to doing contract
> work for instance. Modifying a GPL program for a single company is
> O.K., offering these modifications to an anonymous customer requires
> offering the source code to "all third parties".
Just quote the GPL FAQ to avoid misunderstandings:
"Valid for any third party" means that anyone who has the offer is
entitled to take you up on it.
Note the "who has the offer". If the customer is a loyal one and doesn't
pass long the binaries and neither the written offer to receive source
code, there's no way for others to get access to the source code. They
need the written offer.
If you commercially distribute binaries not accompanied with source
code, the GPL says you must provide a written offer to distribute the
source code later. When users non-commercially redistribute the
binaries they received from you, they must pass along a copy of this
written offer. This means that people who did not get the binaries
directly from you can still receive copies of the source code, along
with the written offer.
The reason we require the offer to be valid for any third party is so
that people who receive the binaries indirectly in that way can order
the source code from you.
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