On Fri, Feb 01, 2002 at 04:48:03PM +0100, Phil Payne wrote:
> It seems quite clear to me that no one can charge extra for a
> distribution that contains their own software, since that is obviously
> a 'work' within the terms of the GNU Public Licence 2(b).
See the bottom of sec. 2 of the GPL:
In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the
Program with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a
volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other
work under the scope of this License.
I believe Linux distributions qualify as "mere aggregation", and thus there
is no requirement for all of the separate software packages making up a
distribution to be licensed under the GPL.
Cheers,
Dave
(Note: I'm not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, etc, etc...)
--
Dave O'Neill, Senior Linux Consultant
Linuxcare, Inc. tel: (613) 562-9949 fax: (613) 562-9700
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxcare.com/
