XTCommerce Violation?

[Matthew Flaschen]

Wait, this issue is a little more complex than that.  If the company 
distributes the source with the binaries, Arnoud is correct.  However, 
if they distribute the binaries without source, they must "Accompany it 
[the binaries] 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."  Note that the offer must be valid for third 
parties (who need not have received binaries, or in this case purchases 
support).

It's not really clear from the description whether source and binaries 
are being distributed together, or whether there's a written offer 
(perhaps more implicit than it should be).

Matt Flaschen

Arnoud Engelfriet wrote:
> C. Grobmeier wrote:
>> The project has it's software licensed under the GPL. They sell support
>> for 98 Euro. If you don't buy the support, you cannot download the
>> software package nor the sourcecode.
> 
> That's fine. Only those people who receive binaries have the
> right to also obtain the source. If they give away binaries
> and charge EUR 98 for source, that would be a different thing.
> 
>> I have asked the support, they think they are correct with this
>> handling. I think they are not, cause they distribute the software
>> "public in some way" and don't use it internally in their organization.
> 
> Basically, if I give GPL software to my neighbor, he can ask me
> to also give him the source. But *you* cannot ask me for the
> source, because you are not my neighbor and I never gave you
> GPL'ed binaries. There is no requirement to give source to
> *everyone* just because you give a binary to *someone*.
> 
> The GPL FAQ says about this issue:
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLRequireSourcePostedPublic
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#CanIDemandACopy
> 
> Arnoud
>