Re: [ANN] Cygwin DEV survey

[DJ Delorie <dj@delorie.com>]

> >Warning: I've not seen full sources on ftp.franken.de, which is a
> >violation of the GPL.  You'll have to get the sources those packages
> 
> Really? I thought, a pointer to the location of the sources would be
> sufficient!?!

The GNU GPL version 2 requires that all the sources needed to build a
given binary be made available via the same means as the binary.  For
FTP/WWW access, this means on the same site (I asked RMS once).  The
reasons are:

* The site where you got the sources may not be reachable by someone
  who downloads the binaries from your site.

* The sources may be removed from the original site, leaving your
  binaries in violation of the GPL.  This happens often when software
  is upgraded and the old versions are removed.

RMS has hinted that GPL 3 may allow for ftp/www delivery of sources
when the binary is distributed via hard media, but the ftp/www site
must still be controlled by the distributor to ensure that the sources
remain available for the minimum required time (three years).

> Besides that IMHO you have to provide the sources *on* *request*!

Not quite.  You have to provide a *written* offer to provide the
sources.  You can't do that via ftp/www, so that option isn't
available to ftp/www binary distributions.  The only way to satisfy
the GPL when you use ftp/www is to put the sources with the binaries
so that the user can download them both at the same time.

> For many of the packages there are in fact also source packages in
> the same directory.

This is good.

> There are no sources on ftp.franken.de for packages, where the
> orginal source package has been used without modifications.

Irrelevent.  The GPL requires that *you* are responsible for
distributing the sources.  You can't rely on someone else to
distribute the sources unless they agree be held responsible, and even
then you'd need to do the offer in writing.

> In this case there is only a pointer to a location, where you can
> get the sources.

What happens if those sources go away?  You immediately violate the
GPL if/when that happens.

> If not, please tell me, what I have to do to fullfill the GPL! There was
> no intention to violate it.

Simple.  Each tar/zip containing binaries must have a corresponding
tar/zip of the sources, at the same site.  This is what djgpp does,
this is what you should do.  If you ever remove the package, you
remove both the source and binary at the same time.  When you
distribute via ftp/www, the three year offer doesn't count - the user
should download both the sources and binaries at the same time if they
want them.  They aren't required to take the sources, but you are
required to make them available whenever the binaries are available.

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