On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 16:03:16 +0100, Alfred M. Szmidt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > This boils down to: Can you break the law at home? Of course you > > can't. So the same applies to the GPL. Since you cannot mix two > > incompatible licenses legally, then you cannot do this in the privacy > > of your own internal use. It would in the end still be a violation of > > copyright law. > > No it does not quite boil down to that. What it boils down to is > whether the GPL grants permission to so mix the software at home as > long as you do not distribute the combination. > > It does boil down to that, you are still violating the license, and in > turn copyright law. Just that nobody knows of it so nobody can sue > you.
The license allows you to do what I've described. Making derivative works with permission is not copyright infringement. > > Looking at the GPL, it seems to me that modifying GPL software and > not distributing it merely requires providing some notices in the > software. Unless the non GPLed software has some usage restriction > that prevents you modifying or combining the other code with GPL > software, I believe that the GPL allows you to combine or modify as > you like on your own system for your own use. In fact, you could > use the combination internally within a single business > organization as doing so does not constitute distribution. > > No significant GPL restriction kicks in until you try to distribute > your combination. > > And if you use it internally in a business then you are distributing > the program to anyone who uses it. Your statement differs from what the FSF has said. > > You are asking if you can break the law as long as nobody knows about > it, or if only a selected few know about it. Sorry, this isn't how > law works. I'm not asking anything. I'm describing what the license says. Isaac _______________________________________________ Gnu-misc-discuss mailing list Gnu-misc-discuss@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss
