OSNews > Thread > "RE[2]: Commercial use" by lemur2

Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 22nd Jul 2007 14:17 UTC, submitted by Oliver

GCC 4.2.1 has been released, the last release of the GNU Compiler Collection under the GPL v2. "GCC 4.2.1 is a bug-fix release, containing fixes for regressions in GCC 4.2.0 relative to previous GCC releases. GCC 4.2.1 will be the last release of GCC covered by version 2 of the GNU General Public License. All future releases will be released under GPL version 3."

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RE[2]: Commercial use

by lemur2 on Sun 22nd Jul 2007 14:42 UTC in reply to "Commercial use"

Member since:
2007-02-17

I'm intrigued to know how the move to GPL3 will affect those companies making use of GCC for compiling apps on their platform.

There is no restriction in either GPL v2 or in GPL v3 about use of a GPL program. In both cases you are free to use the program however you want to. This is one of the four freedoms that the GPL is all about trying to preserve for you (not restrict you in).

Restrictions apply in GPL v2 only when you distribute a GPL v2 program, and restrictions apply in GPL v3 only when you distribute or assist in distribution of a GPL v3 program. Even then, the restrictions really only amount to a requirement that you pass on to downstream recipients the same permissions that you received, and they only apply to the GPL code, not to your own code.

Compiling your own program is neither of those restricted activities. Go right ahead.

Edited 2007-07-22 14:49

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 5

RE[3]: Commercial use

by Brandybuck on Sun 22nd Jul 2007 23:00 in reply to "RE[2]: Commercial use"

Member since:
2006-08-27

There is no restriction in either GPL v2 or in GPL v3 about use of a GPL program.

Unless the program is on a server, and the guy on the client side demands your modifications. Closing the webapp "loophole" IS about restricting usage!

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2

GPL does _nothing_ about any webapp "loophole"

by b3timmons on Sun 22nd Jul 2007 23:16 in reply to "RE[3]: Commercial use"

Member since:
2006-08-26

Unless the program is on a server, and the guy on the client side demands your modifications. Closing the webapp "loophole" IS about restricting usage!

Nonsense. The GPLv3 does not apply to anything like this. The closest that any license applies to a webapp "loophole" is the Affero GPL. The latest version is here:

http://gplv3.fsf.org/agplv3-dd1.html

Edited 2007-07-22 23:34

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 4

RE[4]: Commercial use

by stestagg on Sun 22nd Jul 2007 23:24 in reply to "RE[3]: Commercial use"

Member since:
2006-06-03

You can safely ignore the client's demands. You are not distributing the software by placing it on one of your server, merely using it to format and distribute unrelated (in the context of the application binary) software.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 3

RE[4]: Commercial use

by lemur2 on Sun 22nd Jul 2007 23:30 in reply to "RE[3]: Commercial use"

Member since:
2007-02-17

Unless the program is on a server, and the guy on the client side demands your modifications. Closing the webapp "loophole" IS about restricting usage!

Excuse me?

If the program you have on the server is your own code, then anyone on the client side has no claim to it at all.

If the program you have on the server is GPL code, then if you have modified it slightly then you are obliged to publish your modifications to downstream users ... this is the exact same deal for GPL software as it has always been. You cannot "hide" a program on a server and thereby expect to "escape" the one and only "cost" of the GPL code you are using.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 4