I have had to deal with this a bit so I'll give my 2c.
Under the GPL2, the company only has to provide source, or make an offer to do so, to customers buying the product containing the GPL code.
The flip side to this is that the "teeth" in the GPL come from copyright law and the only person who can force anything is the copyright holder.
So that really means: 1) If you buy a product containing GPL code, but the company does not supply the code, then - in general - you cannot force the company to supply you with code. You need to get the collaboration of an infringed copyright holder to force the issue. 2) If you are the copyright holder of some GPL code, you cannot - in general - demand that the company supply you with code. You have to either buy a product or get the collaboration of someone that has bought a product.
In the cases I have been involved with (as an infringed copyright holder), the lawyers bought a product on our behalf and made requests for code and then when none was forthcoming they pressed the case.
It really isn't as easy as it should be...
On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 4:28 AM, Wolfgang Denk wd@denx.de wrote:
Dear Pavel,
In message 20130307091729.GA24807@xo-6d-61-c0.localdomain you wrote:
So did you contact the vendor and ask for the source code? And did they answer, and what exactly?
Technically... he should have got source code or written offer for it with the device. So they are already breaking GPL.
Of course you are correct. But there is a wide ange of possibilies; some vendors just don't know what they are supposed to do, and are appreciative for a friendly hint. Of course there are also those where you need a fully charged blaster - but in my experience these are very few.
Best regards,
Wolfgang Denk
-- DENX Software Engineering GmbH, MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd@denx.de The evolution of the human race will not be accomplished in the ten thousand years of tame animals, but in the million years of wild animals, because man is and will always be a wild animal. - Charles Galton Darwin _______________________________________________ U-Boot mailing list U-Boot@lists.denx.de http://lists.denx.de/mailman/listinfo/u-boot