On Mon, 13 Feb 2006 14:37:07 +1100, Craig Sanders <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
> the GPL says you must include the full machine-readable/editable > source code, so if you can't do that in a given medium (say, a chip > with 1KB capacity) then GPL software is not free in any medium. >From the GPL: ,---- | 3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, | under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of | Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following: | | a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable | source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections | 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or, `---- 3a only says that a binary has to be *accompanied* with the source code. Hence it can be on a separate medium. So you can distribute your 1KB chip, stapled to a CD-ROM that contains the source, and still comply with the terms of the GPL. Interestingly, you don't even have to make sure that it's on a medium that the recipient can actually read, as long as it's a "medium customarily used for software interchange". So you can distribute the source on CD-ROMs, even if you know your recipient doesn't have a CD-ROM drive. But it gets even better. You don't even have to accompany the binary with the source itself. If you want, you can instead: ,---- | b) 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; or, | | c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer | to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is | allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you | received the program in object code or executable form with such | an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.) `---- > try again. if you keep coming up with these absurd claims, the laws of > chance says that you must get it right one day. OTOH, you've got a > better chance of winning a big lottery. -- Hubert Chan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - http://www.uhoreg.ca/ PGP/GnuPG key: 1024D/124B61FA Fingerprint: 96C5 012F 5F74 A5F7 1FF7 5291 AF29 C719 124B 61FA Key available at wwwkeys.pgp.net. Encrypted e-mail preferred. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]