Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 22nd Jul 2007 14:17 UTC, submitted by Oliver
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GPL does _nothing_ about any webapp "loophole"
by b3timmons on Sun 22nd Jul 2007 23:16
in reply to "RE[3]: Commercial use"
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
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.
No. modified GPL software running on a server is not being redistributed. So there is no requirement to supply the modified code.
In the same way that if you modified the Open Office source code for personal use, then wrote letters using it, you would not have to publish your modifications.
(Of course, it would be nice to do so)





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!