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by smashing
5037 days ago
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> You can't run GPLed software on iOS. This is 100% not true. GPL v1 and v2 are fine and v3 has some questions that most people avoid by sticking to v2 of the license. There are, however, GPL v3 licensed apps in the Apple App Store which you can find if you only looked. |
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This is necessary because the App Store TOS imposes restrictions on the user that conflict with GPLv2 section 6.
This is also the reason GPLv3 doesn't work for the App Store, although there is a common misconception that the GPLv3 incompatibility arises from the anti-Tivo provisions. Those provisions are not applicable to the App Store, since the App Store is only distributing add-on software for the device. The anti-Tivo provision in GPLv3 is narrow, only applying to GPLv3 software that is distributed WITH the hardware.
Yes, there is GPL software on the App Store. That can happen in two ways:
1\. The copyright owner of the GPL code is the party that submitted the app to the App Store. In this case, they are in effect dual licensing their GPL code. Apple gets a non-GPL license to make and distribute copies. Everyone else gets a GPL license.
2\. Some developer took third party GPL code and used it in his app. The copyright owner of the GPL code has not agreed to dual license the code for Apple.
In the second case, Apple WILL pull the app from the store if the copyright owner of the GPL code notifies them of the violation.
Note that the above analysis is specifically for the Apple store. I don't know how other stores work. A key aspect of the Apple store is that Apple makes and distributes copies of the apps on its store. The developer uploads one copy, and then when Apple approves that and users start purchasing copies of it, it is Apple that is making and distributing those copies. Hence, Apple needs copyright permission.
A store when the store operator did not make and distribute copies would require different analysis.