Golly - a lot of fuss over nothing lads!
No-one is stealing anything here. Stellarium is free to download under the GNU General Public License.
Quote:
The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of works.
The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed to take away your freedom to share and change the works. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change all versions of a program--to make sure it remains free software for all its users. We, the Free Software Foundation, use the GNU General Public License for most of our software; it applies also to any other work released this way by its authors. You can apply it to your programs, too.
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for them if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs, and that you know you can do these things.
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Stellarium is released under a GPL license - it can be copied and modified as you wish - the source code is available on the Stellarium website - top right corner. You are absolutely free to modify and re-distribute it under whatever guise you like, as long as you release it under the same GPL public license. If it's modified or contains new additions, then the those that have modified it are obliged to provide the fixes or modifications back to the community in the form of a "port". It's how RedHat Linux can be ported to "CentOS" as a brand in its own right - as can Debian be modified and re-distributed as "Ubuntu".
The couple of bucks he's asking for it is for his effort in packaging it on a printed DVD or CD and providing a printed jewel case. Whether you think the asking price is worth it or not - it's up to you before you buy it. There is nothing nefarious or illegal going on here. As a developer of my own GPL-licensed product, I'd be more than happy - delighted even - to see it get around - it's why I create it in the first place.
Welcome to the world of open source.