"Benjamin Cutler" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Brian Thomas Sniffen wrote: >> Not only is that non-free, it may not be distributable. A single >> work, parts of which are GPL'd and parts of which are non-free, can't >> be distributed because the GPL requires that the entire thing be under >> the terms of the GPL. >> -Brian >> > > I guess I'm missing something, I just read through the GPL and I'm > having trouble locating the specific clause that states this... not > that I'm doubting you, I just was not aware of this.
The entire work is derived from the code licensed to Debian only under the GPL. So this section applies: These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it. > Would this mean that even the source tarball is not distributable as well? Looks that way, doesn't it? The original author can distribute this, because *he* wrote all the bits we have only under the GPL, and so he isn't bound by this part of the GPL. But Debian can't distribute this -- nobody but the original author can do so. And if he didn't write 100% of the GPL'd parts, he can't distribute it either. -Brian -- Brian Sniffen [EMAIL PROTECTED]
