[LAU] GPL vs GPLv3

[Chris Cannam]

On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 3:31 PM, Robin Gareus <robin at gareus.org> wrote:
> I know a couple of iphone-devs who do that regularly and say it's
> perfectly OK [to use GPLv2] as long as you provide the source on request.
>
> I've just launched a google-search (there goes another wasted 30 mins)
> and found that it's indeed a gray area.

It doesn't seem all that grey.

> Apparently there are some tricks or workarounds around those:
> eg. embed the source-code in your app (for section 6)

That wouldn't help for section 6.  The issue there is that you're not
allowed to add extra constraints on use of the software when
redistributing it.  But the App Store makes several, and enforces them
too.

I think this is one of those things which gets fudged for as long as
no one minds about it.  If the copyright holder wants to distribute
the software with a GPL label on it and the user is happy with how
they get it, then nobody sees any practical problem.  But make use of
a GPL'd library written by someone who does mind about such things,
and trouble will surely follow... if they find out about it.


Chris