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The GPL gives you multiple options to comply with it. Roughly summarizing, either you put the source code onto the same medium that contains the object code, wh
by est31 6y ago
The GPL gives you multiple options to comply with it. Roughly summarizing, either you put the source code onto the same medium that contains the object code, which is what xyzzy_plugh is alluding to, or you can put it onto a web server and accompany the object form with a written offer that it's on that web server. See section "6 Conveying Non-Source Forms" of the GPL.
The GPL only requires you to make the source code accessible to those people who also get the binary from you, not everyone, but most entities just allow downloads for anybody. It's more expensive to implement checking than it's to just allow downloads for everyone. xyzzy_plugh is splitting hairs here.
- xyzzy_plugh 6y agoI'm really not splitting hairs. "Contributing back to the community" sorta implies you're opening a PR, following coding guidelines, writing tests even perhaps. What happens in practice is corps just hack everything together and rush stuff out the door -- no communities want those contributions. It's rare that these sort of releases contain anything novel or useful. Take a look at the OSS releases for Amazon's products (Echo, FireTV) and be prepared to be underwhelmed.
- mimixco 6y agoExactly this. Most of the software others will build with GPL'd stuff isn't interesting to the owner of the original code. They're not doing it to fix bugs. They're doing it to add stuff for their own products. No community of the original software's devs is going to want the output of everyone else's surrounding code or customizations.