Hacker News Reader

> I wonder... Is bundling adware installers with GPL software a violation of the GPL? (If not, should it be? v2?/v3?)

I would assume that adding in stipulations like this would actually be more of a hinderance. Who decides what is "crapware" vs legit software? I can see use cases where you would want an installer to install more than just 1 GPL app (ninite?) and I'm sure it has further implications...

View on HN

The easy solution is that everything not required by the software being installed must be opt in. You can bundle, but it must be opt in.

That doesn't actually solve the ambiguity. It just shifts it elsewhere.

Unfortunately this would break the idea of Linux distributions listing optional add-ons as dependencies of a package to make things easier for the user.

If this feature is abused enough to warrant review by whomever currently keeps download sites from just automatically installing the software (instead of their 'i'm technically not touching you' opt out crap) for any individual case, that case will feel the wrath of whatever banhammer the powers that be wield.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com