[mmt]

> software that is only deployed on one or two servers on a company intranet and the general public will never see it.

I thought that, in this case, it's the company itself who is the "user" of the software and isn't obligated to do anything to/for/about upstream (since there is no stream.. they're not re-distributing it). In that sense, they're not stealing anything, just using what was, explicitly, free to use.

[lmaximus1983]

The code was compiled, so they cannot make modifications. So it is in violation.

You would be right if it was PHP / Python or something else that was interpreted.

The real point to take away is that any modifications will never reach upstream.

[mmt]

I don't understand what compilation has to do with anything, if the company (user) in question isn't distributing the software outside the company.

How is it any different from an individual making changes to GPL software and using it (compiler or interpretted) on a personal computer? Surely that individual isn't obligated to share anything, either.

> The real point to take away is that any modifications will never reach upstream.

The GPL doesn't mention, AFAIK, any such concept. I thought the point was freedom for users of software, not implied benefit to some "upstream" programmer.

IOW, since the GPL is about the user, it's about protecting "downstream" and, without redistribution, there's none to protect.

[lmaximus1983]

Maybe I didn't make it very clear. Each time I observed it the company I was contracting for was selling it to a 3rd party (where it was installed on premises) as a proprietary product.

>The GPL doesn't mention, AFAIK, any such concept. I thought the point was freedom for users of software, not implied benefit to some "upstream" programmer.

The OP specifically said that one of the benefits of the GPL is people had to contribute back because they have to make the code public. As we have discovered they don't.

[mmt]

> Maybe I didn't make it very clear. Each time I observed it the company I was contracting for was selling it to a 3rd party

Indeed, that wasn't at all clear. The comment to which I was responding only used the word "company" (singular and plural), without any modifiers, which I read as describing the same party.

That clears up some of my confusion, since that's an obvious violation (assuming source code wasn't available to those same 3rd parties, which you also didn't explicitly state).

> The OP specifically said that one of the benefits of the GPL is people had to contribute back because they have to make the code public.

Such an assertion (which I see in neither ancestor comments nor the article) still seems mistaken, so perhaps it's a strawman?

The GPL, IIUC, is meant to protect the user, aka downstream, not provide benefits to "upstream". If the binary itself isn't made public, then the source code need not be, either (though I suppose the user/customer in your scenario would have the freedom to choose to make it public, they have no obligation and little, if any, incentive).

[lmaximus1983]

From the OP

> Companies extend the BSD OSs with proprietary additions, then abandon the work and it gets lost. With Linux, everyone is forced to play nice and release under the GPL, and the work gets to live as long as people value it.

[MaxBarraclough]

Yes, you're reading me right, but I skipped over the question of software which is never released publicly - mmt is correct that the GPL does not require public release of works, instead it prevents you from releasing the binaries while withholding the source.

'Secret' purely internal use of modified GPL software is not a violation - if the modified software is never distributed publicly, there's no issue.

(The Affero GPL licence is different in that regard, and was developed as a response to the software-as-a-service trend, but we're discussing the plain old GPL.)

Imperfect enforcement is a valid point, but the terms of the GPL are effective at least some of the time. Major technology companies do not want copyright scandals, even if plenty of fly-by-night companies are willing to risk it.