[H-GEN] GPL or not??

[Trent WADDINGTON]

[ Humbug *General* list - semi-serious discussions about Humbug and     ]
[ Unix-related topics. Posts from non-subscribed addresses will vanish. ]


Ok, I read the page and it seems to make sense.

>From the web page:

   For all non-commercial[1] use DansGuardian 2 can be downloaded under
   the GPL. For all non-commercial use I grant the end-user permission to
   download DansGuardian 2. Upon your downloading of DansGuardian 2 for
   non-commercial use I license it under the GPL.

ie, for non-commercial use, there's no problem, it's just like any other
piece of GPL software.

   For all commercial[2] use, upon your downloading, DansGuardian 2 is
   licensed under the GPL, however permission to download DansGuardian
   from this, or any mirror[3], website is restricted.

he now explains the restrictions:

   The restrictions on the downloading for commercial use are that you may
   only download it once for free. This will enable you to try out the
   software before making a decision to purchase a commercial license to
   download it and possibly a support contract. In order to download
   updates, bug fixes, etc, you must purchase a download license.

So you can download it free of charge, from his web site or from an
official mirror, for commercial use, once.  The next time you download it,
or any updates/bug fixes, from his web site or an official mirror you are
breaking his restriction, and he therefore does not grant you a license to
the software.

This is compatible with the GPL because he is not placing any restrictions
on the re-distribution of the software.  So if you want to download it
once and give it to your customers, your friends, your neighbours or your
dog, you are not restricted from doing that.  That is, the restrictions
are essentially on _his_ distribution of the software, not _your_
distribution of the software.

This is pretty interesting, I havn't heard of anyone doing this before.

Trent


--
* This is list (humbug) general handled by majordomo at lists.humbug.org.au .
* Postings to this list are only accepted from subscribed addresses of
* lists 'general' or 'general-post'.  See http://www.humbug.org.au/