diff --git a/GPL-Business/ChangeLog b/GPL-Business/ChangeLog index 0ff11aa85d56aaf8a5209a28db3bfbe2adbe9b7c..157942ead092d3de745064249624c6283c4ab8a0 100644 --- a/GPL-Business/ChangeLog +++ b/GPL-Business/ChangeLog @@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ (section{GPL \S 5: Acceptance, Copyright Style}): Wrote section. (section{GPL \S 6: GPL, My One and Only}): Wrote section. (section{GPL \S 8: }): Moved to previous chapter. + Added typo fixes from Ammad. + (section{GPL \S 7: ``Give Software Liberty of Give It Death!''}): + Wrote section. 2003-05-28 Bradley M. Kuhn diff --git a/GPL-Business/gpl-business.tex b/GPL-Business/gpl-business.tex index 1ac50ab07f64cda0ec67f646ff50d0c13478dbff..46bbacc3337dcf72b91898176ecdeffab012c315 100644 --- a/GPL-Business/gpl-business.tex +++ b/GPL-Business/gpl-business.tex @@ -862,21 +862,21 @@ truly GPL'ed. Software is a strange beast when compared to other copyrightable works. It is currently impossible to make a film or a book that can be truly obscured. Ultimately, the full text of a novel must presented to the -reader as words in some human-readable langauge so that they can enjoy the -work. A film, even one directed by David Lynch, must be perceptable by +reader as words in some human-readable language so that they can enjoy the +work. A film, even one directed by David Lynch, must be perceptible by human eyes and ears to have any value. -Software is not so. While the source code, the human-readible +Software is not so. While the source code, the human-readable representation of software is of keen interest to programmers, users and programmers alike cannot make the proper use of software in that -human-readible form. Binary code --- the ones and zeros that the computer -can understand --- must be producable and attainable for the software to +human-readable form. Binary code --- the ones and zeros that the computer +can understand --- must be predicable and attainable for the software to be fully useful. Without the binaries, be they in object or executable -form, the software serves only the diadactic purposes of computer science. +form, the software serves only the didactic purposes of computer science. Under copyright law, binary representations of the software are simply derivative works of the source code. Applying a systematic process (i.e., -``compilation'') to a work of source code yeilds binary code. The binary +``compilation'') to a work of source code yields binary code. The binary code is now a new work of expression fixed in the tangible medium of electronic file storage. @@ -894,7 +894,7 @@ of \S\S 1--2, so all the material previously discussed applies here. However, \S 3 must go a bit further. Access to the software's source code is an incontestable prerequisite for the exercise of the fundamental freedoms to modify and improve the software. Making even the most trivial -changes to a software program at the binary level is effecitvely +changes to a software program at the binary level is effectively impossible. \S 3 must ensure that the binaries are never distributed without the source code, so that these freedoms are ensured to be passed along the distribution chain. @@ -1194,8 +1194,22 @@ software. In essence, \S 7 is a verbosely worded way of saying for non-copyright systems what \S 6 says for copyright. If there exists any reason that a -distributor knows of that would prohibit those who would later receive -the software from the distribution +distributor knows of that would prohibit later licensees from exercising +their full rights under GPL, then distribution is prohibited. + +Originally, this was designed as the title of this section suggests --- as +a last ditch effort to make sure that freedom was upheld. However, in +modern times, it has come to give much more. Now that the body of GPL'ed +software is so large, patent holders who would want to be distributors of +GPL'ed software have a tough choice. They must choose between avoiding +distribution of GPL'ed software that exercises the teachings of their +patents, or grant a royalty-free, irrevocable, non-exclusive license to +those patents. Many companies, including IBM, the largest patent holder +in the world, have chosen the latter. + +Thus, \S 7 is rarely gives software death by stopping its distribution. +Instead, it is inspiring patent holders to share their patents in the same +freedom-defending way that they share their copyrighted works. \section{GPL \S 8: Finding Freedonia} \label{GPLs8}