Sun3

[Stephen Williams]

mike at mtcc.com said:
> I'm somewhat confused here (and who isn't from time to time about the
> GPL). I sort of thought that the GPL doesn't allow for a person to
> take back something that has been GPL'd and create "proprietary"
> versions of it.

The copyright holder can do whatever he/she damn well pleases with the
source. He can sell binary rights to his/her heart's content, make non-free
variations, etc. If you do not want to abide by the GPL terms (i.e. you
want to embed it in your own binaries without distributing source) you
must make arrangements with the copyright holder, who is in turn free to
ream you (er, charge you) for the privileges you desire.

The licensee can only use and modify it under the terms of the license.
The licensee cannot take the GPLed software and make binary-only releases
(besides those specifically allowed by the GPL) without a different license
from the copyright holder.

The GPL does not deny the author the rights of ownership, nor does the
GPL grant anybody else the rights of ownership.

I think it is accepted that if anyone gets a copy of the source via GPL
means, the author cannot (should not?) take that copy away from you or
prevent you from redistributing it according to the GPL. (However, I do
not know if this last part is certain.)
-- 
Steve Williams                "The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
steve at icarus.com              But I have promises to keep,
steve at picturel.com            and lines to code before I sleep,
http://www.picturel.com       And lines to code before I sleep."