Downloading tricore-gcc-3.3.2?

[Robert Dewar]

> From HighTec EDV-Systeme GmbH.  If they're distributing binaries, they are
> obliged by the GPL to make the source code available too.  If they refuse,
> it's a breach of the GPL.

More accurately, it is a potential copyright infringement (I say 
potential because there are many reasons why distribution of software
might not be a copyright infringement, e.g. fair use, material is
not protectable, alternative license exists etc). The GPL is about
when you can copy software without violating a copyright, if you
copy it in other circumstances, then the GPL does not cover this
and hence you may may have violated the copyright.

Note the mention of fair use above. There is not much case law
that applies to software. Is it fair use for you to lend a program
to a fellow student for a limited time so that the student can read
and print something you have written (for example). Probably not if
the software is extensive, but no one knows.

Very little about copyright is statutory, an amazing amount is
up to the judgment of juries, so when someone tells you something
is or is not a copyright violation, they are usually just guessing.
For example, is downloading a song from a friend to listen to it
once fair use? No one knows until a jury makes a judgment in a
particular case, and even then the decision may not necessarily
set a precedent for future cases.

It's always surprising how ready news papers and other news
sources are to go along with


> However, I don't think they're obliged to make
> the source available to the public at large, only to people who have a
> binary version

That's not quite right, only to people to whom *they* have given the
binary version, assuming that they distribute the sources with the
binary version.