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Re: how to respect licensing for derived installer images?



Quoting Ian Jackson (2015-11-25 14:26:06)
> Jonas Smedegaard writes ("how to respect licensing for derived installer images?"):
>> I suspect the effective license of the combined work of the official 
>> Debian install images is quite likely some version of GPL, which 
>> means I will need to provide (or promise to provide) sources 
>> involved.
>>
>> Since the "preferred form of editing" for my³ changes is the official 
>> binary images, do a link to those satisfy my obligations?
>
> I think the preferred form for modification is _all of_:
>  - the official binary images
>  - your software for modifying them
>  - the source code for all the software in the image
>
>> Or, if I need to provide source code for all pieces of the image, 
>> even though arguably I do not change any of it (only recodes their 
>> cpio and vfat encoding), how do I then enumerate what is involved?
>
> I assume that the installer image builder leaves a log somewhere of 
> the software that's included.
>
> I would write a notice like this:
>
>   I hereby offer to provide the source code for the relevant Debian 
>   binary packages, included in the installer, on request.  However, 
>   you will probably find it easier to acquire these packages from the 
>   official Debian resources, ftp.debian.org and/or 
>   snapshot.debian.org.
>
>> Also, who decides what is the effective license of that work?  Should 
>> I have asked -legal@d.o? Or leader@d.o? Or is -boot@d.o or whichtever 
>> other team producing what ended up on our website the right ones to 
>> ask?
>
> Conventional wisdom (with which I do not agree) is that something like 
> an installer image is an aggregation, so does not need to have a 
> single licence.  Rather, there are separate licences for all the 
> pieces.

Thanks a lot!

Took some time for it to sink in.  Now it has, and makes good sense :-)

 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

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