GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE as part of commercial product [closed]

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I know there are similar questions in stack overflow but they are not specific.

What I mean hear by commercial is that the software is not free.

Anyways here is my scenario Let's say I am creating a software 10,000 lines of code and I will like to use readelf.exe that is a program under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE that can be downloaded from here. Will I still be able to charge for the software if I include readelf.exe? I know I will have to provide the source code of readelf.exe but will I also have to provide the source code of my main software?

Answer 1

For your first question

Will I still be able to charge for the software if I include readelf.exe?

Yes, the GPL allows everyone to do this. The right to sell copies is part of the definition of free software. Except in one special situation, there is no limit on what price you can charge. (The one exception is the required written offer to provide source code that must accompany binary-only release.)

For your second question

will I also have to provide the source code of my main software?

The GPL does not require you to release your modified version, or any part of it. You are free to make modifications and use them privately, without ever releasing them. This applies to organizations (including companies), too; an organization can make a modified version and use it internally without ever releasing it outside the organization.

But if you release the modified version to the public in some way, the GPL requires you to make the modified source code available to the program's users, under the GPL.

Thus, the GPL gives permission to release the modified program in certain ways, and not in other ways; but the decision of whether to release it is up to you.

Summary

1. If you are just distributing readelf.exe then you do not have to release your code under the same license.
2. If you have linked to readelf.exe or modified it then you must release your changes back to the public.

Answer 2

If you're just using the executable, you will not have to release your own source, just the source required to build readelf (as you said).

This would be considered mere aggregation under GPLv2 (the license used by that distribution of mingw):

"In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under the scope of this License. "

You can always sell GPL (or any free/open source) software, as Shane said.

I recommend you try to use better terminology. Red Hat is an company selling $1 billion of commercial open source products every year, and that's just one example. Use "non-free" or "proprietary" instead of "commercial".

IANAL. TINLA.