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To me this seems like a failure of the simplicity of the GPL, but with no easy fix. Apple doesn't want to restrict the program to anyone, they just want to have their distribution process restrictive. If there was a way to proxy the supply of the restriction-free binary and/or source code of the app there wouldn't be a problem. The app submitter or VLC devs or another interested party would step up to host.


They want to restrict the program — Apple forbids private APIs, system modifications, kernel extensions, auto-updates.

Whether you need those things might be debatable, but Apple doesn't give you freedom to have them, and adds DRM to prevent you from modifying the app.


They want to restrict the syndicated developer. But the program you download is the same open-source app you signed up for.

DRM is indeed an issue, but that goes toward the tivoization clause that VLC explicitly did not adopt.




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