Handspring, gcc and ignoring the gpl

Barry Margolin barmar@bbnplanet.com
Tue Oct 19 08:21:00 GMT 1999


In article < 380C33ED.2B4F@advalvas.be >,
Rémi Letot  <remi.letot.nospam@advalvas.be> wrote:
>Matthew Sparks wrote:
>> 
>> Technically they haven't released their software yet.
>They released the binary form, it's "in the wild",  they must release
>the source for it, no matter what problems they have, the source exists
>and works. Noone forced them to use GPL'd code. They did so, they must
>follow the rules.

The GPL can't force them to violate other licenses.  GPL clause 7
specifically says:

    If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your
    obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations,
    then as a consequence you may not distribute the Program at all.

They can't go back in time and undo the fact that they distributed the
binaries in the first place, so the best they can do is stop distributing
them now that they've been informed of the conflict.

-- 
Barry Margolin, barmar@bbnplanet.com
GTE Internetworking, Powered by BBN, Burlington, MA
*** DON'T SEND TECHNICAL QUESTIONS DIRECTLY TO ME, post them to newsgroups.
Please DON'T copy followups to me -- I'll assume it wasn't posted to the group.


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