Re: GPL and inhouse use?

[Richard Tobin]

In article <mailman.1916.1147805463.9609.gnu-misc-discuss@gnu.org>,
Alfred M. Szmidt <ams@gnu.org> wrote:

>   Web services are going to replace software distributed on media.
>   If anyone can use GPL software to offer a service to the public
>   without having to share modifications, that blows free software
>   right out of the water.

>If you provide it on a website, then it isn't very in-house, it is
>just pure distribution, and the GPL already handles that.

He means providing a service that uses GPLed software to perform
the service, not providing a copy of the software.

For example, suppose you provide a service to the public that compiles
programs using a modified version of gcc, but you don't give out
copies of the modified compiler: you just accept .c files and return
.o files.  As far as I can see, the current GPL does not apply to this
situation at all.

-- Richard