There are a few takes on this, Ted - and I think you're fairly free in this sense. One minor quibble - GPL software is definitely not public domain. The difference from NASA's policy perspective may not matter, but from the standpoint of the GPL and what its intent is, it's a completely different story, which actually helps you somewhat.
(1) There are some people who have developed applications that depend on VNC for key functionality which they sell commercially and do not share the source code for - and they have not yet been sued... (2) There is no requirement in the GPL that you make your source code for any mod available to the world - simply that when you distribute software you also allow access to the source code to those to whom it is redistributed, and that you do not impose additional restrictions on redistribution(if my readings of the GPL are remembered clearly). I think your situation is a little fuzzy but is on the "white hat" side of the line due to the sets of conditions that apply. Here's what I think about your case from what you said: First, you are redistributing it within the same organization in a larger sense, even if it is a completely different center. This makes your modification more of an internal special build, and no one forces an individual organization using Linux/Unix to publish their source code for special builds used internally. Second, even if you consider the other organization to be "external", if they already have the same restrictions on release that you do - which sounds likely since you said it was a NASA policy - you are not altering the license requirements of the GPL. The fact that you may be charging pseudo-money for it due to internal billing doesn't really matter; companies do contract programming work for each other all the time. Third, the philosophical intent behind the GPL as I understand it was to protect the end users of the software. For your particular case, you are providing the direct end users with access to the source code. In the larger sense of VNC users everywhere, you are not doing anything which directly affects them. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ted Shab" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, 2002-04-30 19:00 Subject: RE: AuthRequired on Win2K > On a more serious note - I have a GPL question that someone here might be > able to answer. > > We have considered integrating vnc into an application we are developing for > another Center. If we only deliver this software to another center, do we > only have GPL requirements to that Center (i.e. - we have to give them the > source code, which is fine)? The issue is that part of the application has > code that can't be released to the Public Domain based on current NASA > policy. > > I saw a discussion of this on slashdot - but I didn't get a real sense of > what the definitive answer was. > > Sorry if this is off topic - but does any one know what compliance should > be, in this case? > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Alex K. > > Angelopoulos > > Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2002 2:54 PM > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: Re: AuthRequired on Win2K > > > > > > Just remember, if you use it you need to officially credit the > > NASA Technology > > Transfer program. :-) > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Glenn Mabbutt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Sent: Tuesday, 2002-04-30 16:29 > > Subject: RE: AuthRequired on Win2K > > > > > > > Hey, "caprice of the silicon gods" has a nice ring to it. > > Methinks it would > > > make a great title for a book ;) > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Ted Shab [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > > Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2002 2:16 PM > > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Subject: RE: AuthRequired on Win2K > > > > > > > > > Well, I tried it on another machine and it worked - something in the > > > registry gunk may be causing the problem. Otherwise, these are > > identical > > > machines, so I'm sorry to say it seems to be caprice of the > > silicon gods. > > > > > > Thanks for the help, anyway. > > > > > > Best, > > > > > > Ted > > (SNIP) > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the line: > > 'unsubscribe vnc-list' in the message BODY > > See also: http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/intouch.html > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the line: > 'unsubscribe vnc-list' in the message BODY > See also: http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/intouch.html > --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the line: 'unsubscribe vnc-list' in the message BODY See also: http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/intouch.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------
