Re: Availability of source code (Was: Re: OFF TOPIC about GPL enforcement (Was: Re: [tdf-discuss] Re: [Libreoffice] Proposal to join Apache OpenOffice))

Manfred Usselmann wrote:
> > I see a problem here. Usually GNU/Linux distributions make
> > modifications to the original source code. That means that the *real*
> > source code will be the one from your distro and not the one you can
> > download from the LibO website, hence the information will be
> > misleading.
>
> In this case the distributions could modifiy the about box as well and
> change the link accordingly... 
> Or just add an additional link to their specific version.
I see little point in burdening distros with writing specific
instructions into tons of about boxes of their software, when there
are well-known distro methods to get the source (<pkg-manager>
install <pkgname>-src). Especially since all of that needs to be
translated into ~100 languages.

> > We provide all the required source tarballs for each version and every
> > piece of code is in our git repository. So we fulfill all the
> > requirements but we have the problem that it's not easy to find. I
> > guess writing a good text about how to get the source code for every
> > version and place it in our download page (or a link to the wiki page)
> > is good enough.
>
> Should be sufficient as well.
Sure, let's link to some build howto also from the download page -
but I consider this discussion somewhat moot, since anyone wanting
to modify and/or compile LibreOffice code (which is the whole
"spirit" behind copyleft) will surely visit the "Get Involved" or
"Developers" subpages (that are very prominently visible on the
libreoffice site). And that has all the info.

In closing, when a version is retired (3.3.2 is superseded by
3.3.3), both src and binary gets moved to

http://download.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/old/

So nothing is lost. :)

Cheers,

-- Thorsten

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