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A lot of people wrongly assume that if you license the product under GNU GPL, you must publish source code on the internet. Many active proponents of free (as i
by Andrew_nenakhov 6y ago
A lot of people wrongly assume that if you license the product under GNU GPL, you must publish source code on the internet. Many active proponents of free (as in freedom) software had very tense quarrells with me when I explained them that it's not exactly mandatory.
- xyzzy_plugh 6y agoThis is a small point to argue. Even if you choose to distribute your source on-demand by CD in an envelope with postage stamps on it, the next logical step is for a customer to just put that code on github. So, what then is the difference? Putting it on github (or a zip file on your website) is less of a hassle.
- Andrew_nenakhov 6y agoIf the customer paid a really high price for software and source code (like a few million dollars), he might rightfully decide that publishing it and giving it to everyone for free is not in their best interests.
- Tomte 6y agoThat used to be the business model of Adacore and the GNAT compiler. Their compiler was technically GPL, but they sold it for thousands of dollars to businesses, with the implied threat that they would let the phone ring for a while when a customer who distributed the sources had a problem. Since their customers are using it for safety- and mission-critical software, noone would ever dare to cross them.