On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 00:31:15 -0500 Shane <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hey everyone. I have a bland but important question for everyone. Say > hypothetically a company is developing an audio product using lots of > GPL source, but for whatever marketing reasons asks for NDA concerning > the codebase. Lots of GPL work is referenced and at least dynamically > linked, and though the company has directly stated that it will release > the codebase publicly with the product release (once it is complete). > > I am curious as to the general feel in the community on such practices. > Would this 1) be a violation of the GPL,
Yes. > 2) if it is how tolerant would > the OSS community be, considering the general good intent of the > project, and If any of my code is involved, I will prusue the matter. > 3) if I were asked to sign such a NDA would that document > be a binding agreement even if the NDA itself might be a violation of > the GPL since it is inherently counterintuitive to the intent of the > GPL. The GPL is pretty clear about this. The GPL comes into action when the binaries or code derived from GPL code is **distributed**. That means that you and the company can hack on whatever GPL code you like as long as they don't release a binary (under NDA or not). Erik -- +-----------------------------------------------------------+ Erik de Castro Lopo [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Yes it's valid) +-----------------------------------------------------------+ "Therapists typically base the nuttiness of a patient on the strength of their convictions, on which basis this 43,000 word opus alone stands as a kind of testament to Bill's (Gates) madness." - The Register
