Clickthrough for GPL

Jordi Gutierrez Hermoso · External Since: Oct 31, 2006 Posts: 46

I have seen a few Windows apps putting the GPL on a clickthrough
agreement, particularly those that use the Nullsoft installer. The
Debian Windows installer from goodbye-windows.com (or perhaps
goodbye-microsoft.com) comes to mind as such an example.

I realise it probably doesn't make much of a difference if the GPL is
in a clickthrough, since as I understand it, you don't need to agree
to the GPL to use the software, and clickthrough agreements are
probably almost always impossible to enforce. So, just out of academic
curiousity, what's the status of putting the GPL in such a
clickthrough agreement? Does it make any difference or not?

- Jordi G. H.

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Ben Finney · External Since: Jun 02, 2006 Posts: 125

"Jordi Gutierrez Hermoso" <jordigh RemoveThis @gmail.com> writes:

> I realise it probably doesn't make much of a difference if the GPL
> is in a clickthrough, since as I understand it, you don't need to
> agree to the GPL to use the software, and clickthrough agreements
> are probably almost always impossible to enforce. So, just out of
> academic curiousity, what's the status of putting the GPL in such a
> clickthrough agreement? Does it make any difference or not?

The GPL explicitly permits use of the work by any recipient; this is
granted even in jurisdictions that sadly have copyright law that
restricts the act of using copyrighted works. So, regardless of
whether the person agrees to the license, they have the freedom to use
the work.

The problem comes when the installer refuses to install the work
without receiving acceptance of the GPL; this goes against what the
license says (i.e. that even a person who says "no" to such a question
has the right to install and use the work.

Having received such a work, I suppose the license grants permission
to use the work *despite* what the installer does; so, installing the
software "manually" by extracting it in a way that avoids such a
question would be explicitly granted. That's a pointless hurdle to put
before the user, though; ideally the meaningless "Accept the license"
step should be removed.

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Ben Finney

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ajdlinux · External Since: May 27, 2007 Posts: 9

On 6/29/07, Ben Finney <bignose+hates-spam@benfinney.id.au> wrote:
> The problem comes when the installer refuses to install the work
> without receiving acceptance of the GPL; this goes against what the
> license says (i.e. that even a person who says "no" to such a question
> has the right to install and use the work.

I think it's really just that installer software like InstallShield
have a EULA page by default, and the authors/Win32 packagers decide to
display the GPL in there. It's not so much of an issue for NSIS as
it's more flexible, but I think it's just default settings designed
for proprietary software.

I suppose you could bypass the license acceptance step by running the
setup program with /q switches (i.e. silent mode install) if you
really wanted to.

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Don Armstrong · External Since: Jan 24, 2005 Posts: 253

On Fri, 29 Jun 2007, ajdlinux DeleteThis @gmail.com wrote:
> I think it's really just that installer software like InstallShield
> have a EULA page by default, and the authors/Win32 packagers decide
> to display the GPL in there. It's not so much of an issue for NSIS
> as it's more flexible, but I think it's just default settings
> designed for proprietary software.

There are a couple of these installations which are actually rather
amusing, as they show the GPL, and tell you that you can accept it or
not at your option, explaining that running the program is free
regardless.

Don Armstrong

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rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct
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