From 9122138cf0634855073aefdbe4c5d1759b4735b0 2017-05-09 11:51:59 From: Bradley M. Kuhn Date: 2017-05-09 11:51:59 Subject: [PATCH] Copy 1hr-GPL.markdown to specific-sections.md cp 1hr-GPL/1hr-GPL.markdown 30min-specific-sections/specific-sections.md Start from the 1hr version to make a short version that talks about just a few specific sections of the GPL. --- diff --git a/presentations/30min-specific-sections/specific-sections.md b/presentations/30min-specific-sections/specific-sections.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..5c289131417b607626edb1d8aec714ddfa819a6f --- /dev/null +++ b/presentations/30min-specific-sections/specific-sections.md @@ -0,0 +1,418 @@ +% Brief Introduction to the GNU General Public License +% Bradley M. Kuhn +% Monday 24 March 2014 + + +# Audience Polls + ++ My goal here is to move faster or slower based on audience knowledge. + ++ There are folks in this audience who have worked with this stuff for years, + and those who are completely new. + ++ We want these presentations to be valuable to all of you. + ++ Please, don't be embarrassed: + + Ever GPL expert in the world, including me, started as a student who + knew none of this. + +# IANAL + +IANAL + +# My Affiliations + ++ Formerly had John's job, Executive Director of FSF, years ago. + ++ Currently: on Board of Directors of FSF. + ++ President of Software Freedom Conservancy. + +# How These Orgs Relate to GPL? + ++ FSF + + Invented copyleft. + + Authors & stewards of the GPL. + + Holder of copyrights on many key GNU programs … + + … and therefore enforcers of those copyrights. + ++ Software Freedom Conservancy + + Adviser on legal issues of copyright, etc. to Free Software projects. + + Holder of some copyrights on its member projects. + + Enforcer of GPL on behalf of many copyright holders in: + + BusyBox, Samba, Mercurial, and the kernel named Linux. + +# How this Hour Will Go? + ++ Materials presented will mix the simple & complex. + ++ We cannot possibly cover the entire GPL in one hour. + ++ Discuss: motivations, origins, then a few of GPL's sections. + ++ I understand the mix of backgrounds in the audience. + +# A Restaurant's Lawyer? + ++ Considering why you want to learn this. + ++ What if your client was a restaurant? + ++ What would you want to need to know? + +# Restaurant Lawyer: What'd You Study? + ++ If you were a restaurant's lawyer: + ++ Probably three areas of law you'd focus on: + + building codes. + + health and safety regulations. + + tax regulations. + ++ Who would want to hear from? + +# Restaurant Lawyer: What'd You Study? + ++ Figure out the motivations behind the building code: + + What parts are arcane and less important to inspectors? + + How do inspections work? + + What are the penalties? + ++ Figure out the same for health & safety: + + Who inspects, and when? + + What's the health code say, and what checklist do inspectors use? + ++ Likely Questions: + + Who's in charge of all this? + + What's purpose and intent of these regulations? + + Can I meet the inspectors? + +# Why Listen To Us? + ++ FSF: Understanding the purpose and intent of the GPL. + ++ Conservancy & FSF: + + both enforce the GPL. + + if your client violates, you will hear from one of us. + ++ Such access to drafters, interpreters, enforcers is highly unique. + ++ Someday, we may (or already have) sit across the table from you. + ++ Our transparency does make your job easier. + +# The Mindset of GPL + ++ GPL protects software freedom. + ++ Ultimate goal: make sure every user has the four freedoms. + + Freedom to run the software. + + Freedom to study and modify the software. + + Freedom to share the software. + + Freedom to distribute modified versions. + ++ Every clause in GPL was designed to uphold one of these freedoms. + + Or, it's a compromise of drafting in adoption vs. freedom debate. + +# Using Copyright + ++ GPL is primarily a copyright license. + + Software is copyrighted. + + License grants key freedoms. + + Requirement prohibit activities that take away freedoms. + ++ General concept: copyleft. + ++ Specific implementation: GPL. + +
+ + + +> Copyright protection subsists … original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression … from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. + +

+ — 17 USC §102 +

+ + +# Conditional Permissions + ++ A copyleft license grants copyright permissions, conditionally. + ++ Think of the phrase: “provided that” + ++ “provided that”: appears (in some form) only + ++ 4 times in GPLv2 + ++ 9 times in GPLv3. + +# Compare To Proprietary Licenses + ++ Yes, the GPL has its requirements. + ++ But *none* of these activities are ever permitted under proprietary + licenses. + ++ If you don't like what the GPL requires you to do, then just tell your + client to use the proprietary software instead. + ++ That way, they know the answer to every question is “no” + ++ rather than: “yes, but only as long as you …” + +# The Technical Gap + ++ Understanding GPL well requires a some software expertise & legal + expertise. + ++ You don't have to be a professional on either side to grok it. + + but you're best off if you're a professional in one & an amateur + in the other. + ++ Most important technical concepts you need: + + source code, binaries, methods of distribution. + +# Considering Sections of the GPL + ++ With the remaining time … + + in interest of the experts in the audience … + + let's dig into a few specific sections. + ++ GPL ♥ 17 USC§106(2) & 17 USC§106(3) + ++ Modification and distribution. + +# Why Permission to Modify? + ++ Your new copyrights are your copyrights: + + you are affixing it in a tangible medium. + ++ Exclusive right of copyright holders: + + Control on “preparation of derivative works” + + Distribution of the work. + + Note the combination of these. + ++ Again, see 17 USC§106 + ++ N.B.: “derivative works” is USA-centric, modify is more international) + +# Modification As a Center Provision + ++ GPL's primary copyright hook is copyright controls on the right to modify. + ++ GPL's central tenant: + ++ You can make a modified version of various types privately as much as you'd like. + ++ When you distribute that modified version, you have requirements to meet. + ++ Technological considerations dictate necessity of more complex rules for +certain types of modifications. + +# GPLv2 § 2(a-b) + + +

[GPLv2§]2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any +portion of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and +distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, +provided that you also meet all of these conditions: +
+
+a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating +that you changed the files and the date of any change. +
+
+b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in +whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any +part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third +parties under the terms of this License. +

+ + +# GPLv3§5(a-c) + + +

+You may convey a work based on the Program, or the modifications to +produce it from the Program, in the form of source code under the +terms of section 4, provided that you also meet all of these conditions: +
+
+a) The work must carry prominent notices stating that you modified it, and +giving a relevant date. +
+
+b) The work must carry prominent notices stating that it is released under +this License and any conditions added under section 7. This requirement +modifies the requirement in section 4 to "keep intact all notices". +
+
+c) You must license the entire work, as a whole, under this License to anyone +who comes into possession of a copy. This License will therefore apply, +along with any applicable section 7 additional terms, to the whole of the +work, and all its parts, regardless of how they are packaged. This License +gives no permission to license the work in any other way, but it does not +invalidate such permission if you have separately received it. +

+ + +# GPLv2§2¶ penultimates + + +

+These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If +identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, +and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in +themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those +sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you +distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based +on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of +this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the +entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it. +
+
+Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest +your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to +exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or +collective works based on the Program. +

+ + + +# GPLv3 §0 ¶1-5 + +

+ "Copyright" also means copyright-like laws that apply to other kinds of +works, such as semiconductor masks. +
+
+ "The Program" refers to any copyrightable work licensed under this +License. Each licensee is addressed as "you". "Licensees" and +"recipients" may be individuals or organizations. +
+
+To "modify" a work means to copy from or adapt all or part of the work +in a fashion requiring copyright permission, other than the making of an +exact copy. The resulting work is called a "modified version" of the +earlier work or a work "based on" the earlier work. +
+
+ A "covered work" means either the unmodified Program or a work based +on the Program. +

+ +# Binaries (Object Code) are Modifications + ++ Software that the computer understands is different than software humans + read. + ++ There is often a process required to modify (and/or translate) the software + from human-readable + + This process can be done ahead of time. + ++ Separation of source and binary was the first way proprietary software + companies discovered to subjugate users. + + GPL uses the fact that binaries are modifications (which are often + distribution) to prevent that subjugation. + +# GPLv2 § 3(a-b) + + +

+

[GPLv2§]3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, +under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of +Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following: +
+
+a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable +source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections +1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or, +
+
+b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three +years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your +cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete +machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be +distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium +customarily used for software interchange; +

+ + +# GPLv3 § 6(a-b) + + +

+[GPLv3 § ] 6. Conveying Non-Source Forms. +
+
+You may convey a covered work in object code form under the terms +of sections 4 and 5, provided that you also convey the +machine-readable Corresponding Source under the terms of this License, +in one of these ways: +
+
+a) Convey the object code in, or embodied in, a physical product +(including a physical distribution medium), accompanied by the +Corresponding Source fixed on a durable physical medium +customarily used for software interchange. +
+
+b) Convey the object code in, or embodied in, a physical product +(including a physical distribution medium), accompanied by a +written offer, valid for at least three years and valid for as +long as you offer spare parts or customer support for that product +model, to give anyone who possesses the object code either (1) a +copy of the Corresponding Source for all the software in the +product that is covered by this License, on a durable physical +medium customarily used for software interchange, for a price no +more than your reasonable cost of physically performing this +conveying of source, or (2) access to copy the +Corresponding Source from a network server at no charge. +

+ + +# GPLv3 § 1 ¶ 1, 4-6 + + +

+The "source code" for a work means the preferred form of the work +for making modifications to it. "Object code" means any non-source +form of a work. +
+
+The "Corresponding Source" for a work in object code form means all the +source code needed to generate, install, and (for an executable work) run the +object code and to modify the work, including scripts to control those +activities. However, it does not include the work's System Libraries, or +general-purpose tools or generally available free programs which are used +unmodified in performing those activities but which are not part of the work. +For example, Corresponding Source includes interface definition files +associated with source files for the work, and the source code for shared +libraries and dynamically linked subprograms that the work is specifically +designed to require, such as by intimate data communication or control flow +between those subprograms and other parts of the work. +
+
+The Corresponding Source need not include anything that users +can regenerate automatically from other parts of the Corresponding +Source. +
+
+The Corresponding Source for a work in source code form is that +same work. +

+ + + +# The GPL is a Complex Topic + ++ An in-depth seminar on GPL's provisions is a one-day course … + + … but the written materials discuss every section in depth. + ++ Keep in mind: every requirement has a carefully considered purpose to + uphold freedom of users. + ++ Software freedom licenses have a moral perspective. + + This is probably the most difficult thing for lawyers to understand.