On Sat, 6 Sep 2003, Dave Shawley wrote:
> I got a question about about distributing Ethereal as an internal tool
> for our field support guys. We have a number of proprietary protocols
> that I have written dissectors for. I have been using it for my own
> debugging purposes since I am responsible for writing the protocol
> servers. Anyway, if we wanted to distribute Ethereal internally what
> are the distribution requirements since it is GPLed?
If you are only every using it internally for your staff, then you do not
need to distribute source.
> I guess that my real question is: do we have to distribute the source
> for our dissectors or is it legal to release binary form dissectors if
> we provide links to the source for Ethereal?
>
> Now for the real story... my manager really wants to distribute Ethereal
> since it is a *very* useful debugging tool. She thinks that since it is
> an internal distribution, we shouldn't have to divulge the source for
> our dissectors. I'm pretty sure we have to distribute the source but I
> figured that I would ask anyway.
I believe that she is correct. The distribution clause comes into effect
when you provide it to a third party. However, it really hinges on the
question of what you are doing if you provide a modified version
internally to your own staff.
If that version ever escapes to customers, then you are in a different
ball game.
To be on the safe side, however, why don't you make your dissectors
plug-ins?
> Now if we do have to distribute the source, is it legal to to dist the
> source on the same disk? I think that our lawyers will go for this one
> since the disks are only available to our internal FEs. Anyway, I need
> some response on this from the legalease on this list.
You really should read the GPL. And consult a lawyer. None of use here, I
believe, are lawyers.
You are only obliged to distribute the source to those who you provide the
modified program to, but they have a right of redistribution :-)
Distributing the source on the same CD/disks that you distribute the
program on is the simplest option.
Regards
-----
Richard Sharpe, rsharpe[at]ns.aus.com, rsharpe[at]samba.org,
sharpe[at]ethereal.com, http://www.richardsharpe.com
