Stuart, I'd have thought that the best way to handle this would be to have your custom program inform the user that it is downloading GPL software to their system, and provide a URL through which they can obtain the source if they want to, as well as providing them with the text of the GPL, since of course they must agree to its terms in order to use the downloaded software.
Cheers, Wez @ RealVNC Ltd. > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of S. I. Becker > Sent: 05 October 2005 09:51 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Releasing a modified version of RealVNC > > Dear Wez et al, > > I've created a modified version of VNC. It is the same as > RealVNC 4.1.1 > with an added commend-line feature for the server that > initiates a single > connection to a listening viewer, and doesn't permit any > other connections, > no matter which side they are initiated. The server exits > when the original > connection is closed. My ultimate aim is to make this into a > "help me" > feature, which could be put on a website. > > My question is not technical, but regards licensing and > copyright. This is > the first time that I want to release software under the GPL, > and I want to > be sure that I follow the conditions properly. Obviously I > need to make the > source code available. What do I need to do regards > copyright notices, both > in the source and packaged with the application? > > Secondly, I mentioned above that my intention is to make this > into a "help > me" feature, which could be put on a website. The website > will have a link > to a program P1.exe. The user can download this or run it > direct from the > website as desired. When run, P1 will download the modified > vnc server and > the wm_hooks.dll to a temporary folder. Then P1 runs the > modified server is > run via the command line to connect only to me (exactly where > "me" is will > be determined by other features in the P1 program). After > the server exits, > P1 deletes both the server and the dll. So my questions are: > > Does P1.exe need to be released under the GPL? It is not "a > work based on > the program" as it will be all my own work. However, it is > dependent on vnc > in order to work. As P1 downloads the GPL licensed .exe and > .dll, does it > also have to download the source code/a written offer of it. > NB the source > will be available for download at the same location from > which the .exe and > .dll are downloaded. I don't really want to go the "written > offer" route, > but nor do I want P1 to initiate downloads that 99% of the > time will just be > slowing the vnc connection. One option I've thought of is to > have an option > in P1's GUI that user's can tick to say that they want to > download the > source as well as the binaries. Would that be sufficient? > > I haven't been able to find a newsgroup/mailing-list that deals with > question like "I want to do xyz, is this permissible under > the GPL?" so I > thought I'd try you as the original authors of RealVNC to see > if you feel my > intentions would infringe your copyright. If anyone knows of > a group where > it would be more appropriate to ask my questions, please let me know. > > Stewart Becker (NutmeG) > _______________________________________________ > VNC-List mailing list > [email protected] > To remove yourself from the list visit: > http://www.realvnc.com/mailman/listinfo/vnc-list _______________________________________________ VNC-List mailing list [email protected] To remove yourself from the list visit: http://www.realvnc.com/mailman/listinfo/vnc-list
