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Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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On Wed, 2019-07-24 at 00:49:24 +0200, Adam Borowski wrote:
> ##################
> I do not consider a flat tarball to be a preferred form for modification. 
> Thus, like any non-source form, it must be accompanied by a way to obtain
> the actual form for modification.  There are many such ways -- unless you
> distribute the software in highly unusual circumstances, a link to a
> network server suffices; see the text of the GPL for further details.
> ##################
> 
> I believe such a statement would be GPL-compatible; rationale:
> * by the 2011 Red Hat kernel sources outcry, it is obvious such a tarball
>   is long obsolete
> * a flat tarball deprives the recipient of features of modern VCSes
> * comments giving rationale for a change tend to be written as VCS commit
>   messages
> * future forms are not banned: it is conceivable that next week someone
>   invents a revolutionary new form that wins over git

This concept keeps being put forward from time to time, and it keeps
making little sense to me. The "preferred form of the work for making
modifications to it" is the actual source files, that's the work. A
tarball is a way to *transport* and *disseminate* those files, it's
not the work, and people do not edit the tarball. A VCS can be used
to *record* those modifications, or to *transport* and *disseminate*
them, in the same way you could do with a series of patches. But
"modifying" the VCS is a by-product of having modified the actual
source.

Regards,
Guillem

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Thread

anti-tarball clause and GPL Adam Borowski <kilobyte@angband.pl> - 2019-07-24 00:50 +0200
  Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Jonathan Carter <jcc@debian.org> - 2019-07-24 01:30 +0200
  Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Guillem Jover <guillem@debian.org> - 2019-07-24 02:20 +0200
    Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Adam Borowski <kilobyte@angband.pl> - 2019-07-24 02:40 +0200
      Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Scott Kitterman <debian@kitterman.com> - 2019-07-24 07:20 +0200
        Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Adam Borowski <kilobyte@angband.pl> - 2019-07-25 18:50 +0200
          Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> - 2019-07-25 19:00 +0200
            Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Michael Stone <mstone@debian.org> - 2019-07-25 19:20 +0200
            Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> - 2019-07-25 21:10 +0200
      Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org> - 2019-07-24 12:00 +0200
      Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2019-07-28 15:40 +0200
        Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> - 2019-07-28 18:30 +0200
  Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Yao Wei <mwei@debian.org> - 2019-07-24 03:00 +0200
    Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Adam Borowski <kilobyte@angband.pl> - 2019-07-25 20:10 +0200
      Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL "Yao Wei (魏銘廷)" <mwei@debian.org> - 2019-07-26 03:50 +0200
  Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Giacomo Catenazzi <cate@cateee.net> - 2019-07-24 10:20 +0200
  Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Florian Weimer <fw@deneb.enyo.de> - 2019-07-24 22:30 +0200
    Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Yao Wei <mwei@debian.org> - 2019-07-25 00:40 +0200
      Re: anti-tarball clause and GPL Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> - 2019-07-25 21:10 +0200

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