[darcs-users] Re: how to redistribute darcs+Eclipse

[John Meacham]

On Thu, Jun 09, 2005 at 02:24:49PM +0200, Ketil Malde wrote:
> Jamie Webb <j at jmawebb.cjb.net> writes:
> 
> >>     Jamie> "Therefore, by modifying or distributing the Program
> 
> >> Note that this is NOT a contract; you have no proof that the violator
> >> accepted it.
> 
> > You don't have to sign something to make a legally binding agreement.
> > As an extreme, there was a case here in the UK a few years ago in
> > which three men made a purely verbal agreement

Yes, this is a _major_ misconception about the GPL which a lot of people
seem to make. The GPL is _not_ a contract and does not gain power from
contract law. the GPL derives power from copyright law. by default,
anything anyone creates is copyrighted and by default no one is allowed
to duplicate anyone elses work. The GPL simply allows work to be
duplicated under certain conditions. if you break it, you do not get in
trouble over a contract, you get in trouble for distributing a
copyrighted work illegaly, just as if you made bootleg copies of the
lion king and sold them out of your van. Note that copyright infringment
is just illegal, there are no contracts involved, which is why the GPL
can't be ignored if you are under 18 and your agreement to it is
irrelvant. 

A side effect is that the common misconception that the GPL can infect
your code causing it to become GPLed is completly unfounded. it is
impossible for this to happen. What happens is you lose the ability to
distribute the GPLed code. nothing happens to your code, it is still
yours and you can rewrite the offending bits and keep on distributing it
or change your licence or just distribute your parts however you want...  

        John

-- 
John Meacham - ⑆repetae.net⑆john⑈