On Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:43:05 -0700, noel.wade wrote:

Is there a violation of the GPL going on? Possibly. Is the "spirit" of
the GPL being violated? Yes. But is it materially harming anyone?
That's a much tougher question to answer... If I knew it *was* harming
someone, I wouldn't use it; but I don't see how its causing harm at this
point. I'm not happy about the situation, but I don't see a "perfect"
solution at this point. The LK8000 developer has claimed that the
source-code will be made available at a future date when the software is
publicly distributed. Personally I believe that the best thing for me
to do is to apply gentle pressure and persuasion, to try to encourage
this to come true sooner rather than later.

So let me help apply some gentle pressure...

rant

There is a HUGE violation of the GPL going on here.

1000's of hours were spent writing the original XCSOAR code. The
developers who did it, as well as all of those who helped with testing,
filing bugs, translating, documentation etc did it for no reward at all.

The only rights they have reserved over their work, is that the source
code of any software developed from their work should be made available
to them and to anybody else who feels motivated to continue with the
work. This is the same motivation that has resulted in entire operating
systems and many thousands of applications being written under GPL
copyrights.

It is exactly this right which is being withheld. It is not only a theft
of the intellectual property of the original XCSOAR authors, but it is
also an insult to 10's of thousands of programmers and developers who
have contributed to GPL copyrighted work over the decades.

The rules are simple. You cannot distribute a "testing beta" derivative
of a GPL copyright work unless you distribute the source code of that
work as well. At the same time, not at some date in the future.

The practical reality is this: We don't have to like it; but asking
people to stop using a superior product is just not going to happen -
not when its free and already "in the wild".

If this is your attitude, then you might as well distribute hacked copies
of Winpilot, CU Mobile, and Pocket Strepla, underhand to other readers of
this newsgroup.

But this is worse. Perhaps the gliding equivalent of a programmer who
violates a GPL copyright is a pilot who falsifies their documentation in
order to earn a badge that they never flew. It does not hurt anybody, so
what is the harm in that?

/rant

Ian

PS: Just publish the code and all will be forgiven!