selling gpl software?

i know it is forbidden to sell open source software.

let say i have costumer want me to modified an open source php script.
i have the right to charge him the service to modified the software.

but this costumer ask me to do one thing against the gpl software.
he want me to remove all the link and powered by link (anything visible to
the end user)

what should i do to satisfy my costumer without making myself against
the spirit of open source community?

jeffry s wrote:
> i know it is forbidden to sell open source software.
>
> let say i have costumer want me to modified an open source php script.
> i have the right to charge him the service to modified the software.
>
> but this costumer ask me to do one thing against the gpl software.
> he want me to remove all the link and powered by link (anything visible to
> the end user)
>
> what should i do to satisfy my costumer without making myself against
> the spirit of open source community?

Don't do it. It has nothing to do with "the spirit of the community",
it's (potentially[1]) breaking the law. Contact the maintainer of the
software to find out if there's a way to get it under a different
license. If not look for an alternative that meets the customers
requirements.

-Stut

[1] Yet to be sufficiently tested in court in most countries, but do you
really want to take the risk?!

--
http://stut.net/

jeffry s wrote:
> i know it is forbidden to sell open source software.

Er, no it's not.

> let say i have costumer want me to modified an open source php script.
> i have the right to charge him the service to modified the software.

Of course.

> but this costumer ask me to do one thing against the gpl software.
> he want me to remove all the link and powered by link (anything visible to
> the end user)

Which you can do (IIRC).

--
Richard Heyes
Employ me:
http://www.phpguru.org/cv

On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 12:11 PM, jeffry s <paragasu@gmail.com> wrote:
> i know it is forbidden to sell open source software.

That's your first mistake. It may be unethical and frowned upon
by the community-at-large, but nearly all open source licenses
(including GPL) allow for the code to be sold. From GPLv3:

"You may charge any price or no price for each copy that you
convey, and you may offer support or warranty protection for a fee."

> let say i have costumer want me to modified an open source php script.
> i have the right to charge him the service to modified the software.

That is correct by all means, because you're charging a fee for a
service, not a fee for someone else's work or derivatives.

> but this costumer ask me to do one thing against the gpl software.
> he want me to remove all the link and powered by link (anything visible to
> the end user)

GPL doesn't explicitly require that. That would be licensing by
the individual project.

> what should i do to satisfy my costumer without making myself against
> the spirit of open source community?

Quite honestly, if your client is willing to pay for removal of
the links, you should work with the original author(s) to determine
the value of the script(s) you'll be using and request a commercial
license. In so doing, you're not only abiding by all of the written
and unwritten laws of the community, but also supporting a project
financially --- which is ALWAYS welcome.

--
</Daniel P. Brown>
Forensic Services, Senior Unix Engineer
1+ (570-) 362-0283

At 12:11 AM +0800 3/20/08, jeffry s wrote:
>i know it is forbidden to sell open source software.
>
>let say i have costumer want me to modified an open source php script.
>i have the right to charge him the service to modified the software.
>
>but this costumer ask me to do one thing against the gpl software.
>he want me to remove all the link and powered by link (anything visible to
>the end user)
>
>what should i do to satisfy my costumer without making myself against
>the spirit of open source community?

This comes down to what you can live with. Only you can answer that.

I do not sit in judgement regarding anything a client wants. But,
there are some things I won't do, like pornography, or spam, or any
illegal activity because I don't want the liability exposure that
accompanies it.

My advice, if it's illegal, then don't do it.

Cheers,

tedd

--
-------
http://sperling.com http://ancientstones.com http://earthstones.com

> if the author of the app has included terms saying that you can use the app,
> provided that you keep the links/etc... then no, you can't violate the
> terms... however, in reality, of course people do it all the time...

Then it wouldn't be under the GPL. The GPL is itself a set of terms that
grant you permission to use and redistribute the software. If you add to
it, it stops being the GPL.

--
Richard Heyes
Employ me:
http://www.phpguru.org/cv

umm...

if the author of the app has included terms saying that you can use the app,
provided that you keep the links/etc... then no, you can't violate the
terms... however, in reality, of course people do it all the time...

the single guy, or a few guys who are working on an open source app, aren't
going to have the resources to try and track down these situations...

but as far as selling the code, if the code is "gpl" you can sell it,
provided you also make the source code available to the end user if they
want it...

peace..


-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Heyes [mailto:richardh@phpguru.org]
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 8:23 AM
To: jeffry s
Cc: PHP General list
Subject: Re: [php] selling gpl software?


jeffry s wrote:
> i know it is forbidden to sell open source software.

Er, no it's not.

> let say i have costumer want me to modified an open source php script.
> i have the right to charge him the service to modified the software.

Of course.

> but this costumer ask me to do one thing against the gpl software.
> he want me to remove all the link and powered by link (anything visible to
> the end user)

Which you can do (IIRC).

--
Richard Heyes
Employ me:
http://www.phpguru.org/cv

--
PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/)
To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php

jeffry s wrote:
> i know it is forbidden to sell open source software.

Actually, you can sell GPL software. But that's not the point here.
Persumably the client knows all about it and knows it exists and
"selling" it per-se is not the important part here.

> let say i have costumer want me to modified an open source php script.
> i have the right to charge him the service to modified the software.

Certainly this is indeed your right.

> but this costumer ask me to do one thing against the gpl software.
> he want me to remove all the link and powered by link (anything visible to
> the end user)

That's nothing to do with the GPL. The author may put terms of use out
there, but removing the links produced by the code is just the same as
any other modification. Sure, it doesn't feel right, but in theory there
is nothing wrong with this.

> what should i do to satisfy my costumer without making myself against
> the spirit of open source community?

I'd suggest that you ask your client to reconsider the attribution links
or perhaps agree to a toned down version of them.

Also as it's GPL and as you are "supplying" the modifications you make
to your client, you are obliged to release the changes you make to the
community. If this was a 100% internal development (e.g. you are
employed directly by your client, not as a contractor), then you are not
obliged to release the changes.

Releasing the changes would certainly be within the spirit of the GPL
and the community.

IANAL so apologies if I've gotten anything wrong here.

Col

On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 12:55 PM, Colin Guthrie <gmane@colin.guthr.ie> wrote:
>
> IANAL so apologies if I've gotten anything wrong here.

Yes, we know you're anal. ;-P

In all seriousness, looks like you got it all right. +1 for you
(and a gold star)!

--
</Daniel P. Brown>
Forensic Services, Senior Unix Engineer
1+ (570-) 362-0283

On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 1:02 AM, Daniel Brown <parasane@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 12:55 PM, Colin Guthrie <gmane@colin.guthr.ie>
> wrote:
> >
> > IANAL so apologies if I've gotten anything wrong here.
>
> Yes, we know you're anal. ;-P
>
> In all seriousness, looks like you got it all right. +1 for you
> (and a gold star)!
>
> --
> </Daniel P. Brown>
> Forensic Services, Senior Unix Engineer
> 1+ (570-) 362-0283
>
> --
> PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/)
> To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
>

well, i am quite surprised with you all feedback.
then it is ok to remove all the link as part of modification then as long
as the source code available to the client (it is php script anyway)

forgive me for my stupidness. i am quite confuse with law thing
and gpl, gplv2 and gplv3 or gnu proven hard for me to understand.
anyone can point me a comparison between all this?

a simple explanation easy for baby to digest.. :)