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diff --git a/www/licenserant.html b/www/licenserant.html new file mode 100755 index 00000000..e3c0a927 --- /dev/null +++ b/www/licenserant.html @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +<!--#include file="header.html" --> + +<p>The reason for the clarification of section 3 is that +<a href="http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/06/23/1728205&tid=150">what the FSF did to Mepis</a> was inexcusable. (Further discussed +in <a href="http://www.busybox.net/lists/busybox/2006-June/022797.html">this +thread</a>.)</p> + +<p>A small Linux distributor named Mepis (more or less a guy in his garage) +partnered with a big linux distributor called Ubuntu (multi-million dollar +company with offices in more than one country). Mepis put out a press release +quoting Ubuntu's founder about how cool the partnership was, and then Mepis +pointed to Ubuntu's source repository for GPL packages it was using unmodified +Ubuntu versions of. And the FSF went after them.</p> + +<p>As far as we're concerned, Mepis didn't do anything wrong, and the FSF +was a bully. The FSF was wrong when it tried to make an example out of a +company that was acting in good faith.</p> + +<p>To make sure the FSF doesn't pick on anyone else against our wishes, we're +clarifying that if you didn't modify the source code, and the binaries you're +distributing can be entirely regenerated from a public upstream source, +pointing to that upstream source in good faith is good enough for us. As +long as the upstream source don't doesn't object to the extra bandwidth, +and the correct source code stays available at that location you specify +for the duration of your responsiblity to redistribute source, life is good.</p> + +<p>There are a few common sense caveats. This doesn't mean it's fair for a +Fortune 500 company to point millions of people at somebody's home DSL line +(certainly not without asking first). And if the source that's available there +is not the complete corresponding source to the binaries you distributed, then +obviously you haven't fulfilled your obligations by pointing to some _other_ +source. (If you modified it, we want the patch, and claiming you didn't +modify it when you actually did would be fraud.) And if the code stops being +available at that location, you're not off the hook and have to find a new +location or put up your own mirror.</p> + +<p>So this is not a "get out of jail free" card: It's still your responsibility +to make the complete corresponding source available. We're just saying you can +reasonably delegate to something like Sourceforge or ibilbio, and as long as +everyone who wants the source can get it, we're happy. If the site you point +to objects or goes down, responsibility obviously reverts to you. But there +are plenty of high-bandwidth places that mirror open source for free these +days: sourceforge, OSL, ISC, ibiblio, archive.org, and so on.</p> + +<p>Oh, one last note: if people come to you asking "where's the source" +and your answer doesn't satisfy them, ask yourself "did I identify which +specific version I used, and if I didn't modify it at all did I explicitly +tell them this"? If you don't identify the source you used in enough detail +for open source developers to reproduce what you did, you haven't complied with +your license obligations yet. Identifying the specific source you used +is a very important part of the "written offer" bit that often gets +overlooked.</p> + +<!--#include file="footer.html" --> |