3 ms·
There is one hook in the GPL that makes this a very dangerous game: if you are found to be in violation, you lose your rights given by the license until they ar
by Argorak 14y ago
There is one hook in the GPL that makes this a very dangerous game: if you are found to be in violation, you lose your rights given by the license until they are explicitly reinstated by the copyright holder. Just starting to comply with it is not enough. Depending on how the GRUB team wants to play this, this could get messy. Canonical loosing all rights to GRUB would be a fun case, especially when it comes to all the releases that still use GRUB.
See: http://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2008/compliance-guide.html http://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2008/compliance-gui... (5.2, Termination)
Also, as a Linux vendor, you really don't want to get caught violating the GPL voluntarily.
- freehunter 14y agoI have to question if any high profile development team has the balls to actually prevent Ubuntu from using their software. Ubuntu dropping your packages from a default install would have enough of an impact, but having them removed from the repos as well seems catastrophic. Canonical is not really a small-time player in the Linux world.
- Argorak 14y agoYes, but Canonical advocating GPL breaches and strong-arming a high-profile team into a standoff? Would any of the sides want the fallout of that? My point was that it is not true that you can just pay up when convicted and continue as before if you are found to be in violation of the GPL.