3 Mar
2011
3 Mar
'11
2:04 p.m.
It was thus said that the Great Tony Duell once stated:
Actually, one can release a binary-only program under the GPL. The
relevant portion of the GPL for this is:
3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
...
b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your
cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium
customarily used for software interchange; or,
c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer
to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is
allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you
received the program in object code or executable form with such
an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)
So, legally obtain the program, then ask for the source code.
-spc (See? Easy ... )
If you look closely when 'RUNNING' the program, you will see a GPL notice ....
So you're saying I have to download a binary-only program and run it on a
machine I don't own under an OS I don't have a license for to see this?
In any case. I don't believe a binary-only program can be released under
the GPL, certainly not under the GPL that I am familiar with.