[Adium-devl] [macsb] Re: Disk Images

[Andreas Monitzer]

On Nov 12, 2006, at 21:09, Andre-John Mas wrote:

> One thing I was wondering is whether a link to a FAQ on the GPL would
> be handy. My internet connection is playing up, so I can't use Google
> to see if something that already exists.

Sure:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html

> The idea here is the for the
> non lawyers amongst us (pretty much all of us), it could be useful.

That's the preamble of the GPL, it's an English translation of the  
terms, mixed with an explanation of the FSF's philosophy:

-----------------------------------
Preamble

The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom  
to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License  
is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free  
software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. This  
General Public License applies to most of the Free Software  
Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit  
to using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered  
by the GNU Lesser General Public License instead.) You can apply it  
to your programs, too.

When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not  
price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you  
have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge  
for this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can  
get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces  
of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.

To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid  
anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the  
rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for  
you if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.

For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether  
gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that  
you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the  
source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their  
rights.

We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software,  
and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to  
copy, distribute and/or modify the software.

Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain  
that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free  
software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on,  
we want its recipients to know that what they have is not the  
original, so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect  
on the original authors' reputations.

Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software  
patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free  
program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making  
the program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that  
any patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed  
at all.
-----------------------------------

andy