Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!van-bc!heuvax!nheu From: nh...@heuvax.wimsey.bc.ca (Norman Heu) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: Question About General Public License Message-ID: <nheu.0471@heuvax.wimsey.bc.ca> Date: 31 Jul 91 02:52:18 GMT Organization: Private Node in Vancouver, BC, Canada Lines: 7 A quick question.. if I release a program I write under the GNU General Public License, must I include the source? -Norm -- // Norman Heu \X/ nh...@heuvax.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!heuvax.wimsey.bc.ca!nheu
Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!wupost!rex!uflorida!mailer.cc.fsu.edu! sun13!hudgens From: hud...@sun13.scri.fsu.edu (Jim Hudgens) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: Re: Question About General Public License Message-ID: <3652@sun13.scri.fsu.edu> Date: 31 Jul 91 21:38:07 GMT References: <nheu.0471@heuvax.wimsey.bc.ca> Organization: SCRI, Florida State University Lines: 23 In article <nheu...@heuvax.wimsey.bc.ca> nh...@heuvax.wimsey.bc.ca (Norman Heu) writes: >A quick question.. if I release a program I write under the GNU >General Public License, must I include the source? > -Norm Another question on the GPL: if I release a program under the GPL, can I call it GNU-something-or-other, or is the GNU designation "reserved" for programs with copyright owned by the FSF? Any opinions or definitive answers? (It's not an entirely hypothetical question at the moment, though the program in question is still much too shaky to release). -JHH -- Jim Hudgens Supercomputer Computations Research Institute "Nothing's for sure except DEC and VAXe .. er, death and taxes" hud...@sun13.scri.fsu.edu Life's a bitch, and then you graduate.
Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!cis.ohio-state.edu!ai.mit.edu!tower From: to...@ai.mit.edu (Leonard H. Tower Jr.) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: Question About General Public License Message-ID: < 9108010049.AA08864@pop-tarts> Date: 1 Aug 91 00:49:49 GMT References: < 3652@sun13.scri.fsu.edu> Sender: to...@prep.ai.mit.edu Reply-To: to...@prep.ai.mit.edu Distribution: gnu Organization: Project GNU, Free Software Foundation, 675 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA +1 (617) 876-3296 Lines: 28 Date: 31 Jul 91 21:38:07 GMT Organization: SCRI, Florida State University From: hud...@sun13.scri.fsu.edu (Jim Hudgens) Sender: gnu-misc-dis...@cis.ohio-state.edu In article < nheu...@heuvax.wimsey.bc.ca> nh...@heuvax.wimsey.bc.ca (Norman Heu) writes: >A quick question.. if I release a program I write under the GNU >General Public License, must I include the source? > -Norm No, but you must offer to make the source available for a reasonable distribution fee. There are other options too. See the GPL for details. Another question on the GPL: if I release a program under the GPL, can I call it GNU-something-or-other, or is the GNU designation "reserved" for programs with copyright owned by the FSF? Any opinions or definitive answers? (It's not an entirely hypothetical question at the moment, though the program in question is still much too shaky to release). FSF and the GNU Project request that you ask us (via g...@prep.ai.mit.edu) before designating a program as "GNU" something-or-other. It's the right thing to do and will avoid a lot of confusion later on. thanx -len
Path: gmdzi!unido!fauern!ira.uka.de!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!spool.mu.edu!olivea! oliveb!veritas!amdcad!sono!porky!mayer From: mayer@sono.uucp (Ronald &) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: Re: Question About General Public License Message-ID: < MAYER.91Aug6172109@porky.sono.uucp> Date: 7 Aug 91 00:21:09 GMT Sender: mayer@sono.uucp (Ronald Mayer) Organization: Acuson; Mountain View, California Lines: 23 someone wrote: > FSF and the GNU Project request that you ask us (via > g...@prep.ai.mit.edu) before designating a program as "GNU" > something-or-other. It's the right thing to do and will avoid a lot > of confusion later on. Is this really different from AT&T and Apple requesting that we ask them before using windows and/or mice? This would also avoid confusion; and it's up to lawyers to define 'right thing to do'. Is the difference that FSF is "requesting" while the other guys are "demanding"? It seems that if the FSF starts claiming the phrase 'gnu' perhaps AT&T will start claiming other phrases in the names of programs, like 'cat', 'tar', 'awk', etc...; and it would end up causing great confusion if 'gawk' had to be renamed because it has the phrase 'awk' in it. Ron Hmm..., Do you think I can PATENT the idea of programs with vowels in their name :-)
Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!olivea!oliveb!veritas!amdcad!sono!morgana!al From: al@morgana.uucp (Al Petrofsky) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: Re: Question About General Public License Message-ID: < AL.91Aug6182051@morgana.uucp> Date: 7 Aug 91 01:20:51 GMT References: < MAYER.91Aug6172109@porky.sono.uucp> Sender: al@sono.uucp (Al Petrofsky) Organization: Acuson; Mountain View, California Lines: 47 In-Reply-To: mayer@sono.uucp's message of 6 Aug 91 17:21:09 Ronald writes: someone wrote: > FSF and the GNU Project request that you ask us (via > g...@prep.ai.mit.edu) before designating a program as "GNU" > something-or-other. It's the right thing to do and will avoid a lot > of confusion later on. Is this really different from AT&T and Apple requesting that we ask them before using windows and/or mice? Yes, it's something completely different. Windows and mice provide functionality. "gnu", like "AT&T" and "Apple", is just a name. ...it's up to lawyers to define 'right thing to do'. No, it's up to individuals to decide the right thing for themselves to do, and it's up to legislators (on behalf of individuals) to define what things are wrong for anyone to do. What's up to lawyers and the courts is just determining exactly how the laws should be interpreted. Is the difference that FSF is "requesting" while the other guys are "demanding"? Well, if we were comparing the names "gnu" and "AT&T", then yes: the difference is simply that the large corporations have registered their trademarks, and the FSF hasn't bothered. It seems that if the FSF starts claiming the phrase 'gnu' perhaps AT&T will start claiming other phrases in the names of programs, like 'cat', 'tar', 'awk', etc...; and it would end up causing great confusion if 'gawk' had to be renamed because it has the phrase 'awk' in it. First of all, I think AT&T long ago agreed not to claim these names, or POSIX would never have used them. Also, "gnu" is used to describe a suite of programs, and is therefore more on a par with, say, "BSD" than "cat", or other individual program names. Ron -- Al Petrofsky sono!a...@sun.com (through August 9) alpe...@ocf.berkeley.edu