MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Installer should not require acceptance of the GPL!

Captain Chaos · 06-01-2011, 08:43 AM

Hi everyone,

I use Calibre regularly and I love it. In fact I just donated to show my love

. I mostly use it on Linux, but recently I had to install it on Windows, and was disappointed to see that the Windows installer requires you to accept the GPL. Unfortunately I see this a lot with open source software, but it is unnecessary and wrong:

The GPL is not a EULA!

The GPL is a copyright licence, not an End User License Agreement. It governs the terms under which you may redistribute the program, and it applies automatically, whether you accept it or not. It does not govern usage of the program, and in fact the licence itself (which the installer makes you accept) states that acceptance is not necessary to use the program:

"9. Acceptance Not Required for Having Copies.

You are not required to accept this License in order to receive or run a copy of the Program. Ancillary propagation of a covered work occurring solely as a consequence of using peer-to-peer transmission to receive a copy likewise does not require acceptance. However, nothing other than this License grants you permission to propagate or modify any covered work. These actions infringe copyright if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or propagating a covered work, you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so."

You may say that it isn't such a big deal to make people unnecessarily accept licences, but I don't like the way it makes open source software similar to proprietary, closed source software which does make you agree to draconian usage licences!

I just wanted to point this out to the developers. Hopefully they will change the installer so that acceptance of the GPL is no longer required to install the program. It really isn't necessary to present the GPL at all when the program is installed, as long as it is prominently mentioned in the documentation and the credits and/or "about" screen. If you feel like you must show the GPL (perhaps to increase awareness of it, I don't know), at least make it an advisory screen only, and don't require people to accept it before they can continue!

</pet peeve>

Sorry for the rant, and please keep up your excellent work!

06-01-2011, 08:43 AM	#1
Captain Chaos Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 50322 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: BeBook One	Installer should not require acceptance of the GPL! Hi everyone, I use Calibre regularly and I love it. In fact I just donated to show my love . I mostly use it on Linux, but recently I had to install it on Windows, and was disappointed to see that the Windows installer requires you to accept the GPL. Unfortunately I see this a lot with open source software, but it is unnecessary and wrong: The GPL is not a EULA! The GPL is a copyright licence, not an End User License Agreement. It governs the terms under which you may redistribute the program, and it applies automatically, whether you accept it or not. It does not govern usage of the program, and in fact the licence itself (which the installer makes you accept) states that acceptance is not necessary to use the program: "9. Acceptance Not Required for Having Copies. You are not required to accept this License in order to receive or run a copy of the Program. Ancillary propagation of a covered work occurring solely as a consequence of using peer-to-peer transmission to receive a copy likewise does not require acceptance. However, nothing other than this License grants you permission to propagate or modify any covered work. These actions infringe copyright if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or propagating a covered work, you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so." You may say that it isn't such a big deal to make people unnecessarily accept licences, but I don't like the way it makes open source software similar to proprietary, closed source software which does make you agree to draconian usage licences! I just wanted to point this out to the developers. Hopefully they will change the installer so that acceptance of the GPL is no longer required to install the program. It really isn't necessary to present the GPL at all when the program is installed, as long as it is prominently mentioned in the documentation and the credits and/or "about" screen. If you feel like you must show the GPL (perhaps to increase awareness of it, I don't know), at least make it an advisory screen only, and don't require people to accept it before they can continue! </pet peeve> Sorry for the rant, and please keep up your excellent work!