#4417 HIGH Future : build source code bundle and store it on the school server

[Zarro Boogs per Child]

#4417: build source code bundle and store it on the school server
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   Reporter:  walter         |       Owner:  dgilmore                 
       Type:  task           |      Status:  new                      
   Priority:  high           |   Milestone:  Future Release           
  Component:  school server  |     Version:                           
 Resolution:                 |    Keywords:  gpl content blocks?:8.2.0
Next_action:  never set      |    Verified:  0                        
  Blockedby:                 |    Blocking:                           
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Comment(by gnu):

 The GPL provides several ways to meet your obligations, when you ship
 GPL'd binaries.  The simplest is to ship full source code along with the
 binaries; then you have no further obligations.  Each recipient who got
 the binaries also got the source.  They can't come back to you later and
 complain, or ask for sources again.  That was the option that OLPC picked,
 when Mako was negotiating between OLPC and FSF over this issue.

 The other option is to include "a written OFFER of source code" to
 everyone who gets a binary.  That leaves you with an ongoing obligation to
 satisfy those offers.

 It's not clear to me whether a link somewhere in the library suffices as a
 written offer.  What Mako and OLPC had negotiated was an actual piece of
 paper.  Many thousands of recipients of GPL binaries inside XO's will have
 no Internet access, but they will have a right to the source code matching
 those binaries.

 I suspect that right now OLPC isn't doing either one; it's just shipping
 binaries and to hell with the license.  Kids get laptops without any
 written offers of source code.  Half of them don't have school servers.
 And the half who do have servers don't have source code on them that
 matches the binaries shipped in their XO's.  And if OLPC received a
 physical letter from a kid in Peru, Mongolia or anywhere else that asked
 for a copy of the source code that matches their binary of bash, Linux, or
 telepathy-gabble, it would get dropped on the floor.

 Here's what the latest GPL says about shipping binaries (20+ packages in
 joyride are now covered by this GPLv3 license).  GPLv2 is slightly more
 restrictive.  Read it here: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html#section6
 .  There's also a GPL FAQ with some explanations here:
 http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-faq.html#ModifiedJustBinary

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/4417#comment:11>
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