While building a new Linux-based monitoring agent, a systems administrator statically links a third-party library that is released under the GNU General Public License v3 (GPLv3). The company intends to ship the agent as a pre-compiled binary to external customers. According to the license terms that apply to the GPLv3 library, which licensing requirement must the administrator satisfy before distributing the product?
Pay a per-copy royalty to obtain a commercial license that removes any disclosure obligations.
Provide attribution to the library authors in documentation while keeping the proprietary portions closed-source.
Offer the monitoring agent's complete corresponding source code under the GPL whenever the binary is distributed.
Secure patent cross-licenses from every upstream contributor before shipping any copies of the agent.
The GPLv3 is a strong copyleft license. When GPL-licensed code is combined into a larger work that will be distributed, the entire derivative work must also be licensed under the GPL, and the complete corresponding source code must be made available to recipients. Merely providing attribution to the library authors while keeping proprietary code closed-source is not sufficient for GPL compliance. The patent clauses in the GPL are designed to protect users from litigation, but they do not require securing proactive patent cross-licenses as a prerequisite for distribution. Paying a royalty for a commercial, closed-source exception is not an option offered by the GPL itself; the license is irrevocably royalty-free. Therefore, releasing the full source code under the same license is the mandatory action.
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