Brian Mays <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > We distribute Debian in its entirety.
Brian Frederick Kimball <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > No you don't. :) Well ... aside from occasional server down time, I think that we do indeed distribute ALL of the Debian distribution. Have we left any parts out? > If a RedHat user runs wget > http://http.us.debian.org/path/to/GPLed/deb, did Debian not distribute > that file to the RedHat user? You might as well argue that if you sell someone a CD full of software, and that person copies only one file off of the CD, then you have sold them only one file. That is not true. You have sold them the entire CD. Try doing that with a CD full of proprietary software (assuming that you are not honoring the license agreement) and arguing with the lawyers over what you sold that person. > > Our packages, however, are designed to be used on our distribution, > > and are distributed as such. > The intended use of a package doesn't seem very relevant to the > question of whether Debian is fullfulling the requirements of the GPL. > The GPL does not wave its requirements when the recipients of the > Program are using the Program in a way that the distributor did not > intend. You have missed the point. The GPL states that its license must be distributed with copy-lefted work. It does not, however, define what constitutes a "work". All non-trivial projects can be subdivided and distributed or used as subparts. The GPL does not cover this area. As a whole, the Debian project provides the GPL with the results of its labor. Therefore, we are complying with its requirements. - Brian
