Hi,
Just found the following issue:
The webshop xt:commerce, which is a fork of the GPLed oscommerce, doesn't provide it's latest version for download, but they still claim it's GPL.
Now, to get the source, you need to pay a "development- and support fee" of 98 eur for twelve months.
So this seems to be a clear violation of the GPL. What's the next step? Writing a polite email to them probably. Can anyone help me writing it (preferrably in german), especially pointing to the correct parts of the gpl? (Contact me via jabber, see below)
Just forgot the URLs: http://www.xt-commerce.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=1 http://www.oscommerce.de/
On Sat, 2006-01-21 at 14:01 +0100, Hanno Böck wrote:
The webshop xt:commerce, which is a fork of the GPLed oscommerce, doesn't provide it's latest version for download, but they still claim it's GPL.
Now, to get the source, you need to pay a "development- and support fee" of 98 eur for twelve months.
I don't think it is a violation.
As I understand it from their site, they will not give you any type of copy unless you purchase it. That's ok with the GPL.
Now, if you purchase it and they withhold the proper source, that would be a violation.
Cheers,
Alex.
On Sat, 2006-01-21 at 14:01 +0100, Hanno B?ck wrote:
The webshop xt:commerce, which is a fork of the GPLed oscommerce, doesn't provide it's latest version for download, but they still claim it's GPL.
Now, to get the source, you need to pay a "development- and support fee" of 98 eur for twelve months.
Yes, that is okay There is also such a question in the GPL FAQ: http://gnu.mirror.xaranet.de/licenses/gpl-faq.html#CompanyGPLCostsMoney
But when you can get a copy anyhow, you could put it online. That would be legal, whether they like it or not.
But I assume, they mostly charge for their support, and that's okay.
Am Saturday, dem 21. Jan 2006 schrieb Alex Hudson:
Now, if you purchase it and they withhold the proper source, that would be a violation.
Yes, but as far as I can see, it is written in PHP - so it is not binary code anyway.
On Sat, 2006-01-21 at 17:06 +0100, Andreas K. Foerster wrote:
Now, if you purchase it and they withhold the proper source, that would be a violation.
Yes, but as far as I can see, it is written in PHP - so it is not binary code anyway.
No, but for example if they ran it through an obfuscator, that would not count as the source for the purposes of the GPL yet it would still run.
I'm pretty sure that has been tried before.
Cheers,
Alex.