seeking advice on software distribution

Jerome Alet alet at librelogiciel.com
Tue Feb 4 17:33:51 UTC 2003


Hi there,

I'm currently planning to release a software which might, for once ;-)
prove to be useful to other people.

Like all the software I've written, I want to distribute this 
software under the GNU GPL, but I'd want to experiment a 
distribution method at the same time, for fun, money, or both : 

  - Allow Free public readonly access to the source code and 
    documentation via CVS.
    
    Of course the latest version in CVS is the version under 
    developpment, so it may not work out-of-the-box. 
    
    People who downloaded the software this way can redistribute it 
    freely under the terms of the GNU GPL, but not label it the 
    "Official Version". 
    
    I don't ask people to which this software is redistributed to pay 
    anything, they only have to respect the GNU GPL's terms, and the
    "Not the Official One" label.
    
  - Allow tarballs downloading (source) only to people who pay a  
    minimal amount of money, say 5 or 10 Euros. Because the language 
    used is interpreted, binary only downloads doesn't really apply 
    there, so there's only one sort of tarball: sources
    
    People who downloaded the software this way can redistribute it 
    freely under the terms of the GNU GPL under the "Official Version" 
    label. 
    
    I don't ask people to which this software is redistributed to pay 
    anything, they only have to respect the GNU GPL's terms.
    
    People who paid the initial amount of money can get their money
    back if they submit patches to the code or the documentation.
    Of course the patch has to be accepted, so I won't have to
    send money back to people who send patches that I don't want to
    include or which don't correct anything. This is to encourage
    people to contribute, clearly the software won't cost anything 
    to developpers who help and will cost the small amount to those 
    who don't want to cooperate.

  - What do people think about such a distribution method ?
    I personnally don't think I'll get rich this way, but
    I'm not in this for money, please think about this as 
    an experiment.
  
  - Is this compatible with the terms of the GNU GPL ? (AFAIK yes)
  
  - Would you pay, knowing that as a developper you can easily get
    your money back ?
    
  - Would you pay if you're not a developper but really want the 
    software, or would you just wait for someone to redistribute 
    it to you (e.g. GNU/Linux distribution or something else) ?
    
Thanks in advance for ideas, flames, or whatever you'd want to    
share.

Jerome Alet


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