For Approval: GPLv3

[Chris Travers]

Alexander Terekhov wrote:
> On 9/1/07, Mahesh T. Pai <paivakil at yahoo.co.in> wrote:
>   
>> Alexander Terekhov said on Sat, Sep 01, 2007 at 02:35:54PM +0200,:
>>
>>  > > The GPL is designed to be a unilateral license.
>>  >
>>  > The GPL is as unilateral as I am the daughter of the US President.
>>
>> Ah. That explains this.
>>
>> The US president found WMDs and al-quaeda in Iraq . And you found that
>> the GPL is a unilateral contract.
>>     
>
> I thought it was you who found that the GPL is a unilateral contract.
> I find that the GPL a contract to make a contract creating endless
> chain of contracts -- it just can't be unilateral.
>   
I was going to question how relevatn this is to other concerns over the 
license, but then I realized that this is actually quite relevant to the 
question of who licenses what from whom.

Here is my interpretation (IANAL).  The GPL is itself an adherence 
contract which includes a number of provisions which are either bare 
licenses or approach this.  It also includes a number of provisions 
which are quite bilateral.  So there is an interesting question as to 
where and when the GPL is a bilateral contract.

If you release your source code and I take it, do not alter your 
distribution (which already complies with the license) and put it on my 
web server, have I entered into a contract with you?  Or is this simply 
done with permission, but no expectation of any consideration whatsoever?

On the other hand, if I add a bunch of things to it, create a derivative 
work, and put that on my web server in object code form, have I *now* 
entered into a contract with you which obligates me to do certain things 
like provide access to my source code?

The GPL as a documnet looks very bilateral, but I would be willing to 
bet that the majority of people who exercise rights granted there do so 
under conditions that look very unilateral (mere mirroring of source 
packages released by the author).

Best Wishes,
Chris Travers
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