[vlc] VLC installer clickwrap

[Andrew Nagy]

I'm slightly confused by the installer for VLC 1.0.0 Win32. It seems to be set up based on a misinterpretation of the GPL. The installer says "You must accept the agreement to install VLC media player", with the GPL version 2 being presented as the agreement, but section 0 of the GPL says "Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not covered by this License; they are outside its scope.". A quick search for the word "agree" shows no references to the reader agreeing to anything. If the license doesn't place any conditions on using the program, why does the user have to accept it?

Also, section 6 says "You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to this License.", which the installer seems to be an attempt to do. Depending on how the GPL is interpreted, this might actually be a violation of section 4's "You may not...sublicense...the Program", or section 6's "You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights ranted herein.". IANAL.

Note the installers of 7-Zip, Ghostscript and PowerIso, which simply install the program and include the GPL as a text file in the installed folder. I can't check Pidgin and Firefox because I have them already installed, but I think they work similarly, or at most give the user the opportunity to review the GPL before installation without requiring them to read or agree to it.

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