A question about the GNU General Public License

[xannoside]

Just to set the setting, Client A has contracted Agency X (which is in fact not us) do provide a backend app for their ecommerce system. Agency X has contracted Developer M to create the app. Developer M has decided to do this using GNU as a platform.

Now here's the question: Are the additional modules/modifications made by M covered by the GNU GPL? Specifically, do they have to provide the source code of those modules/modifications if asked?

Comments

[jlc.livejournal.com]

Depends on what the modifications and modules are. Any modifications to the GNU code itself definitely require release under the GPL. The real question comes in the modules thing. If these are essentially seperate libraries or programs that the GNU code uses, then they can be licensed however.

For example, if I write some PHP apps using MySQL & apache2 on linux, my apps are in no way required to be GPLed. If I need to modify apache by changing config files, I don't need to GPL my changes either. If I modify apache's actual code to do something different (say, improving page fetches in some limited situation that occurs often) then that change needs to be GPLed. If that change relies heavily on LibMoreMagic by my coworker, LibMoreMagic can still stay under whatever licence my coworker prefers (though it's probably copyright our employer).

This clarify anything?

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, does this mean that business logic isn't covered by GPL?

[jlc.livejournal.com]

Is the business logic part of the code or otherwise embodied in direct modifications to the GPLed source?

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

We're a few degrees removed from the source, so it's a little hard to qualify, but I think so.