[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Dear All, > > There seemed to be a great debate a few years back regarding whether a company > could augment GPL software for its own, private use and never release any > modified sources. The general consensus from googling around seems to be: yes, > GPL does allow that (doesn't bode well for dual licensing which relies on the > viral, er, reciprocal qualities of GPL, especially since the majority of > software development occurs within private company use...) > > I'd like to know the parameters or limits of this, if any. > > For example, Trolltech seems to take a severe view of distribution in GPL, > possibly because their old QPL explicitly disallows internal distribution > without opening the code. > > See http://www.trolltech.com/developer/faqs/license_gpl.html#q112.
i suppose it depends on how 'you' is defined. if it is the overall entity, such as a company, using it internally doesn't count as distributing it. it's only when the entity shares the code involved with another entity that this kicks in. see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLRequireSourcePostedPublic i think that makes it pretty clear. all imho, and ianal. -- #ken P-)} Ken Coar, Sanagendamgagwedweinini http://Ken.Coar.Org/ Author, developer, opinionist http://Apache-Server.Com/ "Millennium hand and shrimp!" -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3
