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dgellowyesterday at 7:35 PM3 repliesview on HN

Quoting the first tweet:

> Google replaced pushing Git tags for certain source code with obtaining source code via Google Drive after making a request through Google Forms. It's completely ridiculous and they've gradually become very slow at handling requests. They're in clear violation of the GPLv2 now.


Replies

petcatyesterday at 8:41 PM

> They're in clear violation of the GPLv2 now.

I don't think they are? They could just as easily require requests for the source code to be made through the regular mail instead of a Google form. It's still (maliciously) compliant with the license.

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rlpbyesterday at 8:01 PM

Didn't Google work very hard to avoid any GPL in Android, apart from the kernel? What is in there that is GPL?

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gowldyesterday at 8:27 PM

How slow is "very slow" ? What is "certain source code"? Why is the OP being so coy about describing the problem?

Here is the form:

https://source.android.com/opensourcerequest

This is interesting:

> We might charge you a fee to cover the cost of processing. Your request must be sent according to whichever of the following rules applies:

> Within three years of the date you received the product from Google that included the component or binary files that are the subject of your request.

That "three years" is the minimum named in the GPLv2: https://opensource.org/license/gpl-2.0

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