* On 2016 15 Aug 11:25 -0500, Rob Owens wrote: > On Mon, Aug 15, 2016 at 8:34 AM, Simon Hobson <li...@thehobsons.co.uk> > wrote: > > > There was one other thing that came to mind earlier ... > > If ${company} decided to do that, and they had previously distributed > > binaries ... doesn't the GPL mean they are required to provide the sources > > to anyone they've distributed the binaries to ? So removing the sources > > from public repositories would actually be a breach of the GPL (given some > > limitations regarding timing). > > And that raises an interesting problem for other people distributing > > binaries. If (say) I were distributing binaries for ${foo} and relying on > > (say) a git repository for providing the source - where would that leave me > > if those git sources suddenly disappear ? > > Certainly something for anyone building systems to bear in mind. I know > > lots of people who take the attitude - don't keep it, you can download it > > again. > > > > My understanding is that the source must be made available for 3 years > after the last binary was made available. > See Section 6: > https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
Even so, a tarball with nothing but the source files--no build files--would satisfy that requirement. Certainly, there is no requirement for the development history and patch changes to be released so long as the distributed binary *could* be built from the released source. - Nate -- "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears this is true." Ham radio, Linux, bikes, and more: http://www.n0nb.us _______________________________________________ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng