David Schleef <ds@schleef.org> [2003:10:09:17:01:55-0700] scribed: > On Thu, Oct 09, 2003 at 02:01:36PM -0500, Michael D Schleif wrote: > > OK, this is my first foray into a sale-able product, based on `free' > > software. > > Congratulations. > > > I am working with a company that is writing software that is to be sold > > to their customers. I have specified Debian as the OS on which this all > > runs; so, here I am on this list to learn the ropes of `free' software. > > > > Other than Debian, the software uses Apache, MySQL and PHP. > > You seem to say below that you are using the Debian packages for these. Yes, that is entirely true. > > My client wants to retain all rights to their software, and is not > > willing to release their software in any `free' software fashion. > > > > Also, in order to manage problems and maintain SLA's, this software is > > to be sold as an integral piece of a system -- somewhat of a blackbox. > > In other words, their customers will pay one basic price, and receive an > > installed hardware server, on which Debian and software are installed > > turnkey. > > > > Everything other than the proprietary software is straight DEB > > installed, so their is no issue of distributing modified `free' > > software. However, the MySQL licensing model seems to indicate that a > > licensing fee is due them; and, I wonder about others. > > I am not aware of any MySQL problems; can you give a pointer to > what you are concerned about? Especially Section 3: <http://www.mysql.com/products/licensing.html> > > What are the repercussions to my client, as a result of this model? > > One of the advantages of using Debian is that there aren't many > reprocussions -- we attempt (but obviously cannot guarantee) that > you do exactly what you are attempting to do. > > Things you should watch out for, however: > > - Don't ship anything from non-free or contrib without checking > the license carefully. > > - Don't specifically advertise the software you use, or if you do, > make sure this is allowed by the license. (I'm thinking of PHP > here.) > > - Make sure your proprietary software doesn't link against any GPL > libraries. (Run ldd on the binaries, find the package each library > is in using dpkg -S, and check /usr/share/doc/<pkg>/copyright.) > > - Ship a CD with the source packages corresponding to all the > binary packages that you install. This is to fulfill the GPL > source requirement. There are other ways to fulfill this > requirement, but it is _much_ more cost effective to press a > CD and include it. > > - Remember to provide some way (preferably automatic) for customers > to install security updates. > > There are other things to watch out for, but you not modifying the > source of Debian packages, so it shouldn't matter. Basically, since we are _not_ modifying source to any software, I had always thought that this is a slam-dunk. However, once I read that MySQL page, I have doubts. Am I misinterpreting it? By-the-by, nice surname! Whence comes yours? In fact, other than thee `ee', instead of my `ei', yours is my father's name. -- Best Regards, mds mds resource 877.596.8237 - Dare to fix things before they break . . . - Our capacity for understanding is inversely proportional to how much we think we know. The more I know, the more I know I don't know . . . --
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