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Redhat hasn't found a bona fide loophole in the GPL. Rather they're trying to create a drag that will cause market inefficiency to accrue to them. It can only w
by mindslight 3y ago
Redhat hasn't found a bona fide loophole in the GPL. Rather they're trying to create a drag that will cause market inefficiency to accrue to them. It can only work as long as their changes stay relatively minor. The more valuable those changes are, the more incentive there is for people to break their agreement and widely publish the GPL code, perhaps even anonymously so that Redhat can't actually discontinue their access.
Sveasoft tried the same thing with WRT54G firmware back in the day, and failed so hard that apparently nobody really remembers.
- jacooper 3y agoIts not a loop hole, the GPL only ever required you to give the source to users, it never required the source to be public.
- mindslight 3y agoSure, but the terms of the GPL imply other not-explicitly-specified results due to straightforward emergent behavior. Like the terms themselves don't prohibit (and even encourage) charging for GPL software, but in the presence of FSF's Freedom #2 (redistribution), the price ends up tied to the work of distribution rather than the utility of the software. That overall resulting state of affairs is what people are taking for granted and reacting against possibly changing.