7-Dec-03 13:50 Henning Makholm wrote: > Scripsit Alexander Cherepanov <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> If Section 2 allows someone (not copyright holder) to distribute a >> binary, there are only two alternatives IMHO: either >> 1. Section 2 doesn't require source form of anything distributable; > That is correct, it doesn't. But the only thing that *is* > distributable under #2 is whatever the author explicitly declares to > be "the Program". Usually that whatever happens to be source. How is that? Let's take a look at Section 2 again. First, "You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of it, thus forming a work based on the Program". There are no restrictions on kinds of modifications here, you may modify the Program any way you like. In particular you may produce non-source modifications, say, convert TeX-source to DVI/PostScript/PDF/HTML/..., or compile a binary from sources. Second, "[You may] copy and distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided that ...". There are no restrictions on kinds of modifications here also, you may distribute any modifications that you may make. What prevents you from distributing binaries produced from sources under Section 2? Consider also another example: an author placed a precompiled binary together with sources (it's not unusual for documentation to come in a bunch of formats simultaneously). Then "the Program" is the binary as well as sources. Can I drop the sources and distribute only the binary? Sasha
