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<!-- Copyright (C) 2003 Red Hat, Inc.                                -->
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<HTML
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><HEAD
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><TITLE
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>eCos Licence Overview</TITLE
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>eCos User Guide</TH
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><TD
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><A
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>Prev</A
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><TD
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><DIV
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CLASS="CHAPTER"
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><H1
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><A
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NAME="ECOS-LICENSING">Chapter 3. <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> Licence Overview</H1
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><DIV
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CLASS="TOC"
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><DL
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><DT
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><B
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>Table of Contents</B
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></DT
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><DT
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><A
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HREF="ecos-licensing.html#ECOS-LICENSING-QNA"
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>Questions and answers</A
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></DT
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><DT
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><A
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HREF="ecos-licensing-previous.html"
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>Previous License</A
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></DT
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></DL
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></DIV
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><P
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>As of May 2002, <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> is released
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under a modified version of the well known <A
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HREF="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>GNU General Public License
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(GPL)</A
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>, now making it an <A
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HREF="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>official
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GPL-compatible Free Software License</A
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>. An exception clause has
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been added to the <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> license which limits
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the circumstances in which the license applies to other code when used
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in conjunction with <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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>. The exception
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clause is as follows:</P
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><TABLE
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BGCOLOR="#E0E0F0"
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WIDTH="70%"
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><TR
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><TD
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><PRE
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CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
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> As a special exception, if other files instantiate templates or use macros
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 or inline functions from this file, or you compile this file and link it
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 with other works to produce a work based on this file, this file does not
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 by itself cause the resulting work to be covered by the GNU General Public
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 License. However the source code for this file must still be made
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 available in accordance with section (3) of the GNU General Public
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 License.
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 This exception does not invalidate any other reasons why a work based on
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 this file might be covered by the GNU General Public License.</PRE
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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><P
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>The goal of the license is to serve the
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> user community as a whole. It allows
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all <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> users to develop products without
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paying anybody anything, no matter how many developers are working on
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the product or how many units will be shipped. The license also
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guarantees that the <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> source code will
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always be freely available. This applies not only to the core
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> code itself but also to any changes
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that anybody makes to the core. In particular, it should prevent any
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company or individual contributing code to the system and then later
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claiming that all <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> users are now guilty
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of copyright or patent infringements and have to pay royalties. It
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should also prevent any company from making some small improvements,
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calling the result a completely new system, and releasing this under a
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new and less generous license.</P
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><P
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>The license does <SPAN
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CLASS="emphasis"
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><I
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CLASS="EMPHASIS"
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>not</I
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></SPAN
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> require users to
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release the source code of any <SPAN
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CLASS="emphasis"
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><I
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CLASS="EMPHASIS"
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>applications</I
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></SPAN
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> that
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are developed with <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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>. However, if
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anybody makes any changes to code covered by the
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> license, or writes new files derived
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in any way from <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> code, then we believe
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that the entire user community should have the opportunity to benefit
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from this. The license stipulates that these changes must be made
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available in source code form to all recipients of binaries based on
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the modified code, either by including the sources along with the
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binaries you deliver (or with any device containing such binaries) or
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with a written offer to supply the source code to the general public
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for three years. It is perhaps most practical for
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> developers to make the source code
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available online and inform those who are receiving binaries
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containing <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> code, and probably also the
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> maintainers, about the location of the
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code. See the <A
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HREF="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>full
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text of the GPL</A
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> for the most authoritative definition of the
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obligations.</P
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><P
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>Although it is not strictly necessary to contribute the modified
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code back to the <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> open source project,
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we are always pleased to receive code contributions and hope that
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developers will also be keen to give back in return for what they
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received from the <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> project completely
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free of charge.  The <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> maintainers are
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responsible for deciding whether such contributions should be applied
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to the public repository. In addition, a <A
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HREF="http://sources.redhat.com/ecos/assign.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>copyright
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assignment</A
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> is required for any significant changes to the core
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> packages.</P
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><P
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>The result is a royalty-free system with minimal obligations on
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the part of application developers. This has resulted in the rapid
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uptake of <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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>. At the same time,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> is fully open source with all the
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benefits that implies in terms of quality and innovation. We believe
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that this is a winning combination.</P
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><H1
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><A
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NAME="ECOS-LICENSING-QNA">Questions and answers</H1
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><P
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>The following queries provide some clarification as to the
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implications of the <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> license. They do
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not consititute part of the legal meaning of the license.</P
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><P
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><SPAN
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CLASS="emphasis"
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><I
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CLASS="EMPHASIS"
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>Q.</I
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></SPAN
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> What is the effect of the
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> license?</P
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><P
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><SPAN
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CLASS="emphasis"
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><I
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CLASS="EMPHASIS"
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>A.</I
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></SPAN
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> In the simplest terms, when you
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distribute anything containing <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> code,
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you must make the source code to <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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>
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available under the terms of the GPL.</P
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><P
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><SPAN
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CLASS="emphasis"
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><I
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CLASS="EMPHASIS"
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>Q.</I
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></SPAN
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> What if I make changes to
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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>, or write new code based on
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> code?</P
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><P
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><SPAN
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CLASS="emphasis"
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><I
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CLASS="EMPHASIS"
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>A.</I
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></SPAN
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> Then you must make those changes
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available as well.</P
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><P
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><SPAN
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CLASS="emphasis"
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><I
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CLASS="EMPHASIS"
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>Q.</I
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></SPAN
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> Do I have to distribute the source
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code to my application? Isn't the GPL "viral"?</P
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><P
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><SPAN
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CLASS="emphasis"
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><I
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CLASS="EMPHASIS"
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>A.</I
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></SPAN
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> You do not have to distribute any
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code under the terms of the GPL other than
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> code or code derived from
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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>. For example, if you write a HAL port
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based on copying an existing <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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> HAL in
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any way, you must make the source code available with the
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binary. However you would not need to make available any other code,
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such as the code of a wholly separate application linked with
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>eCos</SPAN
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>.</P
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><P
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><SPAN
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CLASS="emphasis"
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><I
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CLASS="EMPHASIS"
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>Q.</I
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></SPAN
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> I would rather stick with the
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RHEPL code, but I updated my anonymous CVS checkout.</P
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><P
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><SPAN
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CLASS="emphasis"
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><I
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CLASS="EMPHASIS"
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>A.</I
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></SPAN
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> You can check out the final
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version of anonymous CVS before the license change using the CVS tag
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<TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>last-rhepl</TT
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>. See <A
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HREF="http://sources.redhat.com/ecos/anoncvs.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>the anonymous CVS
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access page</A
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>
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for details.</P
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> Overview</TD
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