open source licenses, restrictions or rules?

[office politics]

the most common I can think of GPL. After reading the wiki, it seems to seem the source can be used in any way as long as the new work is licensed as GPL. Can I use someone else's code and sell it for profit? or would that be copyright infringment?

if I use someone else's code that's licesed as GPL, are there any other rules that I would need to follow?

feel free to describe other open source licenese as well.

 

[kmote]

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advise but I believe it depends on what you mean by "used". You may sell it for profit but you must pass on the same rights that you were granted (e.g. they could sell it on again and make a profit themselves).
So - is this a collective work that includes something covered by the GPL or is this something which extends the functionality of a GPL work or is it something which uses a GPL library?

 

[office politics]

well, the project i have in mind would extend the fucntionality of a GPL work. I want to finish the project as quickly as possible so if i can find some open source and modify or addon as I see fit, I would choose this route. This leads into, "Besides making the alterations, is there anything else I have to do because the original work is GPL?" for instance post the code somewhere, notify original owner, etc. AFAIK, the only req is to license it as GPL.

Also, can I sell this work? If so, can I sell other people's work without royalties, copyright infringment, etc.?

 

[kmote]

I think you've got it right there. You can sell it and you must pass on all rights you received by licensing your work as GPL. I think it would be polite to inform the original author of what you are doing though.