[linux-audio-dev] GPL concerns

[Erik de Castro Lopo]

On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 00:31:15 -0500
Shane <lists at itsagesolutions.com> wrote:

> Hey everyone.  I have a bland but important question for everyone.  Say
> hypothetically a company is developing an audio product using lots of
> GPL source, but for whatever marketing reasons asks for NDA concerning
> the codebase.  Lots of GPL work is referenced and at least dynamically
> linked, and though the company has directly stated that it will release
> the codebase publicly with the product release (once it is complete).
> 
> I am curious as to the general feel in the community on such practices. 
> Would this 1) be a violation of the GPL,

Yes.

> 2) if it is how tolerant would
> the OSS community be, considering the general good intent of the
> project,  and

If any of my code is involved, I will prusue the matter.


> 3) if I were asked to sign such a NDA would that document
> be a binding agreement even if the NDA itself might be a violation of
> the GPL since it is inherently counterintuitive to the intent of the
> GPL.

The GPL is pretty clear about this. The GPL comes into action when 
the binaries or code derived from GPL code is **distributed**.
That means that you and the company can hack on whatever GPL code 
you like as long as they don't release a binary (under NDA or not).

Erik
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  Erik de Castro Lopo  nospam at mega-nerd.com (Yes it's valid)
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