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From: | Lennart Borgman (gmail) |
Subject: | Re: [h-e-w] Problem with fresh emacsw32 install |
Date: | Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:36:42 +0100 |
User-agent: | Thunderbird 1.5.0.9 (Windows/20061207) |
Rex Dieter wrote:
Lennart Borgman (gmail) wrote:I think the most userfriendly way to handle this is a special page saying where the sources are. ...IMHO it is a weakness in the GPL not requiring this. (If I am wrong then please point me to the exact part of the GPL that requires this.)There's lots of info on that in the GPL FAQ, but this seems to be most relavent: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#TOCSourceAndBinaryOnDifferentSites
Yes, that is also what I found. Since in my case the sources are on the same site I believe it is ok.
BTW there is a much, much bigger defiency in the GPL in that it does not require that working instructions for compiling the sources should distributed with the sources (or at least a link to such instructions).GPL says the scripts, etc... used to generate the binaries is considered part of the "source" requirements, which kinda-sorta handles that case: "...The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable. "
Thanks, that is interesting. I had not seen that part.It has been bothering me for a long time. In the case of Emacs this part is covered well I think (and I have added some scripts on my site to build from CVS). However for the other tools it is less obvious that this part of the GPL is followed.
I do not want to point to some weaknesses, because I know there is a lot of personal effort and good will layed down. But it would in my opinion be good if this part were stressed more explicitly in the GPL (or in the FAQ perhaps). IMO there should be scripts covering the build process as far as possible and clearly written instructions to cover the missing parts. (Like where to download additional needed tools etc.)
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