NYCPHP Meetup

[Tim Gales]

At php.net I read

question:
"Why is PHP 4 not dual-licensed under
 the GNU General Public License (GPL) like PHP 3 was?

answer:
"GPL enforces many restrictions on what can and cannot 
be done with the licensed code. The PHP developers decided 
to release PHP under a much more loose license (Apache-style), 
to help PHP become as popular as possible."

My questions are:

Let's say there's an extension for PHP 
that I have in mind to write and it will be 
based rather closely on some C code 
that is GPL'd (let's say close enough 
that it could be considered assimilated, 
as in 'resistance is futile').

Now let's further say that I will re-write 
this extension for a client. That is, I will 
download the GPL source for the client 
and then tailor that code the for client's 
needs (as an extension). The client wants to 
retain the source and modify it himself.

The first question I have is: 

Does the client have to keep track of all 
the changes he makes, because he is forced 
by the GPL license to give them back to 
the open source community from which the 
original code came from.

I am currently under the impression that 
the client can change, hack, and improve to 
his heart's content -- he just can't 
publish the extension -- and that would 
include giving it to a friend (for zero 
financial consideration) without making 
his code public.

But the main point that I am worried 
about (as would be potential clients 
in the case where some of the business 
logic might reveal a little more of 
their business strategy than they would like) 
is that such a client wouldn't have to 
give back his changes. He would only have to 
give his source to people who asked for 
it because they want to use a 'published'
extension. 

And just as importantly, to what degree can 
the GPL license spread to modules that take 
advantage of the extension. And here I 
mean should I be careful what PHP modules 
use the extension, because they will 
become GPL'd (assuming I don't want that).

Does anybody know for sure?

Can someone point me in the right 
direction on the web for some 
easy-to-understand info on this?

I haven't tried too much Goggling for 
this because I am presupposing that 
I would have to sift through a lot of 
mis-information -- even if I am 
'Feeling Lucky'.

T. Gales & Associates
'Helping People Connect with Technology'

http://www.tgaconnect.com