Probable GPL violation: MeBeam plugin

[John Bailey-4]

Hey, guys,

Last night in #pidgin it was brought to my attention that the MeBeam plugin
appears to be in violation of our GPL license.  Here's what I could tell:

 * Neither http://blog.mebeam.com/2008/07/pidgin-using-me.html nor the intaller
for said plugin make mention of the license the plugin is distributed under.
 * There is no written offer of source code included with the plugin's binary.
 * The source code is not obtainable from the aforementioned URL.
 * The person reporting the possible violation said he tried to contact MeBeam
in order to obtain the source, but did not receive a reply.

According to the GPLv2 FAQ
(http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0-faq.html#GPLAndPlugins),
plugins loaded dynamically (which is what we do) must fall under the GPL because
once they are loaded, they become part of the whole GPL application.

Given this, I think it's safe to say the plugin is in violation of the GPL and
we need to pursue options to make the plugin compliant with the requirements of
the GPL.

John



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