Charging for GPL licensed binaries & source code

[mjaz]

Hi,

A third party developer is selling an addon to a GPL application I co-developed. He has agreed to comply to the GPL, but we're not sure how to interpret some of the details.

When reading this
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#DoesTheGPLAllowDownloadFee
am I right to interpret this as: "I can charge $xx to you for the distribution of a binary application, but when you request the source code, I must distribute it to you for no more than $xx"?

thanks,
Mathias

[ssam]

i think thats about right.

the GPL terms predate cheap internet, so there was no requirement for people to send disks of source code for no money.

the guy will most likely be charging not much more than the distribution costs (disk+postage). if he is trying to charge a large amount, then you can pay once to get it, and then duplicate it and undercut him.

[Dremora]

GPL says if you get the app, you have a right to the code as well.

If he sells you the app, at any price, you also get the code.

It's really stupid for him to sell it, because you can just turn around and distribute the source code in your program anyway.

If the extension is good and he's selling it cheap, I'd just buy it from him and put it in my project, then he's free to bitch and moan all he wants, yes?

But don't let him know you're doing that or he can decide to charge a crapload of money for it. :lolflag:

[saulgoode]

The Software Freedom Law Center has recently (a couple of days ago) released A Practical Guide to GPL Compliance (http://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2008/compliance-guide.html) which should provide with all the information you need.