Copyright and kernel dependencies...
I'm going to finally pkg GM tools by Myricom Inc. Recently a 1.5 version
has been released which can be used with 2.2 and 2.4 kernel series.
See ITP #114992.
A couple of issues:
1. Copyright:
<copyright>
**************************************************************************
* *
* Myricom GM networking software and documentation *
* *
* Copyright (c) 1994-2001 by Myricom, Inc. *
* All rights reserved. *
* *
* Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software and its *
* documentation in source and binary forms for non-commercial purposes *
* and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the modified software *
* is returned to Myricom, Inc. for redistribution. The above copyright *
* notice must appear in all copies. Both the copyright notice and this *
* permission notice must appear in supporting documentation, and any *
* documentation, advertising materials and other materials related to *
* such distribution and use must acknowledge that the software was *
* developed by Myricom, Inc. The name of Myricom, Inc. may not be used *
* to endorse or promote products derived from this software without *
* specific prior written permission. *
* *
* Myricom, Inc. makes no representations about the suitability of this *
* software for any purpose. *
* *
* THIS FILE IS PROVIDED "AS-IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WHETHER *
* EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR *
* FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. MYRICOM, INC. SHALL HAVE NO *
* LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHTS, TRADE *
* SECRETS OR ANY PATENTS BY THIS FILE OR ANY PART THEREOF. *
* *
* In no event will Myricom, Inc. be liable for any lost revenue or *
* profits or other special, indirect and consequential damages, even if *
* Myricom has been advised of the possibility of such damages. *
* *
* Other copyrights might apply to parts of this software and are so *
* noted when applicable. *
* *
* Myricom, Inc. *
* 325 N. Santa Anita Ave. *
* Arcadia, CA 91006 *
* *
**************************************************************************
The "zlib" source is copyright (C) 1995-1996 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark
Adler. See the file "zlib/README" for the copyright notice.
The GM configure scripts were produced by the Gnu Autoconf package and
are redistributed as permitted by that software's documentation,
which states,
There are no restrictions on how the configuration scripts that
Autoconf produces may be distributed or used. [...]
Of the other files that might be used with `configure',
`config.h.in' is under whatever copyright you use for your
`configure.in', since it is derived from that file and from the public
domain file `acconfig.h'. `config.sub' and `config.guess' have an
exception to the GPL when they are used with an Autoconf-generated
`configure' script, which permits you to distribute them under the same
terms as the rest of your package. `install-sh' is from the X
Consortium and is not copyrighted.
</copyright>
My guess is that all this stuff could be distributed under non-free.
A weird thing is that all sw is currently available using a customer
login/password only, but license is not so restrictive.
Maybe I need to obtain a formal document by Myricom in order to
allow distribution within Debian Project. I'll check this asap.
2. Documentation has a clear warning, which states that build
systems should work with the same OS where the system should run.
So you cannot compile on a 2.2.x machine and run the executable
on a 2.4.x machine. If this is the case, i.e. I cannot use kernel
sources (only) to force a correct building, this could be
a serious problem for archs which are not available to me for building
(i.e. all but i386/alpha and maybe sparc) where I can choose among
different bootable kernels.
For example I will have to compile for 2.2 series only...
Any hints by build/ports folks?
--
Francesco P. Lovergine
Reply to: