URL
https://opencores.org/ocsvn/openrisc_2011-10-31/openrisc_2011-10-31/trunk
Subversion Repositories openrisc_2011-10-31
[/] [openrisc/] [trunk/] [rtos/] [ecos-2.0/] [doc/] [html/] [user-guide/] [ecos-licensing.html] - Rev 256
Go to most recent revision | Compare with Previous | Blame | View Log
<!-- Copyright (C) 2003 Red Hat, Inc. --> <!-- This material may be distributed only subject to the terms --> <!-- and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, v1.0 --> <!-- or later (the latest version is presently available at --> <!-- http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/). --> <!-- Distribution of the work or derivative of the work in any --> <!-- standard (paper) book form is prohibited unless prior --> <!-- permission is obtained from the copyright holder. --> <HTML ><HEAD ><TITLE >eCos Licence Overview</TITLE ><meta name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="TRUE"> <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.76b+ "><LINK REL="HOME" TITLE="eCos User Guide" HREF="ecos-user-guide.html"><LINK REL="UP" TITLE="Introduction" HREF="user-guide-introduction.html"><LINK REL="PREVIOUS" TITLE="eCos Overview" HREF="ecos-overview.html"><LINK REL="NEXT" TITLE="Previous License" HREF="ecos-licensing-previous.html"></HEAD ><BODY CLASS="CHAPTER" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#840084" ALINK="#0000FF" ><DIV CLASS="NAVHEADER" ><TABLE SUMMARY="Header navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TH COLSPAN="3" ALIGN="center" >eCos User Guide</TH ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="ecos-overview.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" ></TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="ecos-licensing-previous.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"></DIV ><DIV CLASS="CHAPTER" ><H1 ><A NAME="ECOS-LICENSING">Chapter 3. <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > Licence Overview</H1 ><DIV CLASS="TOC" ><DL ><DT ><B >Table of Contents</B ></DT ><DT ><A HREF="ecos-licensing.html#ECOS-LICENSING-QNA" >Questions and answers</A ></DT ><DT ><A HREF="ecos-licensing-previous.html" >Previous License</A ></DT ></DL ></DIV ><P >As of May 2002, <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > is released under a modified version of the well known <A HREF="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html" TARGET="_top" >GNU General Public License (GPL)</A >, now making it an <A HREF="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html" TARGET="_top" >official GPL-compatible Free Software License</A >. An exception clause has been added to the <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > license which limits the circumstances in which the license applies to other code when used in conjunction with <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN >. The exception clause is as follows:</P ><TABLE BORDER="5" BGCOLOR="#E0E0F0" WIDTH="70%" ><TR ><TD ><PRE CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING" > As a special exception, if other files instantiate templates or use macros or inline functions from this file, or you compile this file and link it with other works to produce a work based on this file, this file does not by itself cause the resulting work to be covered by the GNU General Public License. However the source code for this file must still be made available in accordance with section (3) of the GNU General Public License. This exception does not invalidate any other reasons why a work based on this file might be covered by the GNU General Public License.</PRE ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ><P >The goal of the license is to serve the <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > user community as a whole. It allows all <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > users to develop products without paying anybody anything, no matter how many developers are working on the product or how many units will be shipped. The license also guarantees that the <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > source code will always be freely available. This applies not only to the core <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > code itself but also to any changes that anybody makes to the core. In particular, it should prevent any company or individual contributing code to the system and then later claiming that all <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > users are now guilty of copyright or patent infringements and have to pay royalties. It should also prevent any company from making some small improvements, calling the result a completely new system, and releasing this under a new and less generous license.</P ><P >The license does <SPAN CLASS="emphasis" ><I CLASS="EMPHASIS" >not</I ></SPAN > require users to release the source code of any <SPAN CLASS="emphasis" ><I CLASS="EMPHASIS" >applications</I ></SPAN > that are developed with <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN >. However, if anybody makes any changes to code covered by the <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > license, or writes new files derived in any way from <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > code, then we believe that the entire user community should have the opportunity to benefit from this. The license stipulates that these changes must be made available in source code form to all recipients of binaries based on the modified code, either by including the sources along with the binaries you deliver (or with any device containing such binaries) or with a written offer to supply the source code to the general public for three years. It is perhaps most practical for <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > developers to make the source code available online and inform those who are receiving binaries containing <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > code, and probably also the <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > maintainers, about the location of the code. See the <A HREF="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html" TARGET="_top" >full text of the GPL</A > for the most authoritative definition of the obligations.</P ><P >Although it is not strictly necessary to contribute the modified code back to the <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > open source project, we are always pleased to receive code contributions and hope that developers will also be keen to give back in return for what they received from the <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > project completely free of charge. The <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > maintainers are responsible for deciding whether such contributions should be applied to the public repository. In addition, a <A HREF="http://sources.redhat.com/ecos/assign.html" TARGET="_top" >copyright assignment</A > is required for any significant changes to the core <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > packages.</P ><P >The result is a royalty-free system with minimal obligations on the part of application developers. This has resulted in the rapid uptake of <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN >. At the same time, <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > is fully open source with all the benefits that implies in terms of quality and innovation. We believe that this is a winning combination.</P ><DIV CLASS="SECT1" ><H1 CLASS="SECT1" ><A NAME="ECOS-LICENSING-QNA">Questions and answers</H1 ><P >The following queries provide some clarification as to the implications of the <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > license. They do not consititute part of the legal meaning of the license.</P ><P ><SPAN CLASS="emphasis" ><I CLASS="EMPHASIS" >Q.</I ></SPAN > What is the effect of the <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > license?</P ><P ><SPAN CLASS="emphasis" ><I CLASS="EMPHASIS" >A.</I ></SPAN > In the simplest terms, when you distribute anything containing <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > code, you must make the source code to <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > available under the terms of the GPL.</P ><P ><SPAN CLASS="emphasis" ><I CLASS="EMPHASIS" >Q.</I ></SPAN > What if I make changes to <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN >, or write new code based on <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > code?</P ><P ><SPAN CLASS="emphasis" ><I CLASS="EMPHASIS" >A.</I ></SPAN > Then you must make those changes available as well.</P ><P ><SPAN CLASS="emphasis" ><I CLASS="EMPHASIS" >Q.</I ></SPAN > Do I have to distribute the source code to my application? Isn't the GPL "viral"?</P ><P ><SPAN CLASS="emphasis" ><I CLASS="EMPHASIS" >A.</I ></SPAN > You do not have to distribute any code under the terms of the GPL other than <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > code or code derived from <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN >. For example, if you write a HAL port based on copying an existing <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > HAL in any way, you must make the source code available with the binary. However you would not need to make available any other code, such as the code of a wholly separate application linked with <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN >.</P ><P ><SPAN CLASS="emphasis" ><I CLASS="EMPHASIS" >Q.</I ></SPAN > I would rather stick with the RHEPL code, but I updated my anonymous CVS checkout.</P ><P ><SPAN CLASS="emphasis" ><I CLASS="EMPHASIS" >A.</I ></SPAN > You can check out the final version of anonymous CVS before the license change using the CVS tag <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >last-rhepl</TT >. See <A HREF="http://sources.redhat.com/ecos/anoncvs.html" TARGET="_top" >the anonymous CVS access page</A > for details.</P ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="NAVFOOTER" ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"><TABLE SUMMARY="Footer navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="ecos-overview.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="ecos-user-guide.html" ACCESSKEY="H" >Home</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="ecos-licensing-previous.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >eCos</SPAN > Overview</TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="user-guide-introduction.html" ACCESSKEY="U" >Up</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" >Previous License</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></BODY ></HTML >
Go to most recent revision | Compare with Previous | Blame | View Log