Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal
Since calibre is its own development environment, by installing calibre you are gaining the ability to modify it, not just use it. And in order to modify it, you must abide by the terms of the GPL, quoting section 9 of the GPL
...
Furthermore, I absolutely detest the whole concept of "use anything implies you automatically accept its license".
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The GPL is designed so that a developer can use it and let his end users run the program without actually agreeing to the GPL. If a developer wants to use it that way and rely on the terms that say "if you modify or distribute, such use constitutes acceptance of the GPL" - that's fine. He's free to do that.
However, that does not mean that a developer is
prohibited from requiring all users to accept the GPL - including those who merely run the program and those who want to modify or redistribute it.
Yes, it's legal hair splitting as "acceptance" by an end user imposes no obligations, but I agree with Kovid's comment above. I hate the "use indicates your acceptance" concept. I prefer seeing the terms of the license up front. Now you know. The GPL
does impose obligations on many users who go beyond merely running the program, so it makes sense to display the GPL. I think it makes sense even though the system for displaying it annoys some who see similarities to the system used for displaying/imposing EULAs (that may have onerous terms).