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Comment by pabs3 | Hacker News Reader

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pabs3·

When the people you are hiring are an external contractor, that probably counts as distribution though.

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It only counts as distribution if you give it to them and they start using the software as well.

If you send them the software, they reverse engineer it and fix bugs that's not distribution.

If you send it to them, they fix bugs and then start using it themselves that is distribution.

No, I don't think so. If the company has the right to edit the code, then it can contract that out. If someone paid the company to clone or use the code, that would be distribution.

From the FSF's GPL FAQ:

However, when the organization transfers copies to other organizations or individuals, that is distribution. In particular, providing copies to contractors for use off-site is distribution.

https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#InternalDistributi...

For use off-site. Hiring a programmer off-site to maintain it isn't "use". Giving it to someone to use in a productive way in furtherance of your business or in exchange for money would be "use".

Distribution matters because it triggers legal consequences--you need a license to distribute. The FSF can't rewrite the law. So they can't say "doing X is distribution" and then claim that doing X requires a license.

So whether the FSF calls something distribution in their own FAQ is irrelevant, unless the FSF is your lawyer and giving you legal advice.

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