GPL respect check

Baptiste MATHUS wrote:
> My company recently bought a complete web-based project
management
> software. This software was mainly developed by a
company named SQLI.
> The thing is: this version comes with an integrated and
possibly
> modified version of Mantis.
> 
> As an open-source fan and day by day user (home and
job), I want the
> free licenses to be respected. So my questions are
quite simple:
> * Are you aware of this? If so, then perfect. I just
wanted to be sure.
> * Since Mantis is GPL, how about the viral aspect of
the GPL in this
> kind of case?

It depends on a lot of things. The first one and most
important: did you
receive the source code along with the application? Since
Mantis is a
runtime-interpreted PHP application, the source code should
be installed
somewhere so that the PHP interpreter can read the files and
process the
pages. It is possible to compile PHP code, thus requiring
the source
code to be distributed in a separate directory or package.

The second thing is: Did they relicense Mantis? Did you buy
it under the
same GPL license or under a different license? In the first
case, they
*MUST* provide you the source code, including any
modifications they
have done. Since you legally purchased a GPL software, it is
your right
to distribute their modified version of Mantis, even at no
fee if you
want. In the second case, they are illegally distributing
software,
prune to prosecution.

The third thing is: How was Mantis integrated into their
software? Just
including Mantis modified source code into a separate
directory and
linking from the main application, with a common
authentication system
between the two is ok, no GPL infringement. Just remember
that it is
your right to redistribute it if you want, and the company
which sold
you this modified Mantis can't do anything to stop you.

It is different if they used Mantis source code in their
application. In
this case, yes, their software becomes infected with GPL.

-- 
Juliano F. Ravasi ·· http://juliano.info/
5105 46CC B2B7 F0CD 5F47 E740 72CA 54F4 DF37 9E96

"A candle loses nothing by lighting another
candle."
    -- Erin Majors

* NOTE: To contact me directly, replace "ml" with
"contact" on my e-mail address.

* AVISO: Para me contatar diretamente, troque
"ml"
por "contact" no endereço de e-mail.


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> No. You can use and modify a GPL software for yourself.
No one may 
> force you to distribute your version, *but*, in the
event of you 
> making it available to others (either publicly on the
Internet or 
> privately via a product purchase), the source code
*must* be made 
> available along with the binary.

Not quite... the source code must be available upon request
to those 
who have purchased or received anything, including binaries
which are 
the result of that source.

But NOTHING in the GPL states that the binaries _must
include_ the 
source. If you provide downloads for GPL binaries, you are
not 
required to provide downloads of source.

For example, I can compile a project's source into binaries,
which I 
then sell and ship to people via hard-copy DVDs, as well as
allow them 
to download from my company website, but I am _not_ required
to make 
the source available in the same form. I am, however,
required to make 
the source available _to those who request it_, and of those
who 
request it, they must be those who received my binaries.

If my application costs $5,000 to download or send via DVD,
and 
includes GPL code in it, someone who visits my website and
simply 
requests the source, is not automatically granted access to
it. I can, 
however... offer to sell customers a copy of the source on
DVD, for 
$49.00 if I wish, which could be my cost to distribute the
source in 
such a fashion.

Now, if one of my "customers" purchases my
software for $5,000 and 
also purchases the source for $49.00, they _are_ allowed to
put the 
GPL-specific bits on their own website for download if they
wish, and 
I can do nothing to stop that.

I've had something very similar to this happen to us, on one
of our 
projects, and our EFF-appointed attorney let me in on these
kinds of 
GPL "loopholes", which smart companies tend to
abuse.

It's a murky area, but it is often abused. I'm not stating
this here 
to try to allow people to skirt the license by using these
methods, 
but rather to explain how this can be abused if you're not
careful 
when you contact these companies.

> The main point is: if you distribute the final
software, you must
> provide the source code as well, at no additional fee
or any other
> requirement. If you are not distributing the software,
you are not
> forced to publish anything.

Again, not correct. You can assess a fee, which includes
your cost of 
packaging and distributing the source on the media you
choose. Reread 
section 3b of the GPL, and you'll see:

 	Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least
three
 	years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than
your
 	cost of physically performing source distribution, a
complete
 	machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to
be
 	distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on
a
 	medium customarily used for software interchange;

Some shady companies use this as a way to extract more money
from 
people, making it a bit more prohibitive to obtain the
source. I can 
pay the fee, and put it on my blog or website or whatever I
want for 
download, and advertise that it is there, with no issues.


David A. Desrosiers
desrodgnu-designs.com
http://gnu-designs.com

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