On Thu, 22 Feb 2007, T.J. Duchene wrote:

> Here is a Q&A vignette published by the FSF covering most, if not all, of what I posted:
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html
>
> I think the only thing that might not be mentioned is the fact that 
> distributors have the right to charge you for handling, copying to a 
> medium, and shipping of the code - but that is covered in the GPL 
> itself.

Thanks, T.J.  That is an important point.  It is covered in this section 
of the FAQ:

    I just found out that a company has a copy of a GPL'ed program, and it
    costs money to get it. Aren't they violating the GPL by not making it
    available on the Internet?

Maybe some of us are not understanding that it is perfectly fine to use 
GPL code to build some device that runs that code internally and to then 
sell that device (along with internal GPL code).  That isn't a violation 
unless no information about the existence of that code is included with 
the device.  The distributor has to offer the code.  It's in section 3 of 
the GPL2:

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

As far as I can tell, it doesn't matter if it's in a microwave oven or on 
a computer HDD.

Mike