[En-Nut-Discussion] Fwd: Fwd: Nut/OS BSD License (was Re: branches\devnut_m3n and STM32F2 devices)

[Henrik Maier]

Hello Guillaume,

The original question from you to some of the Cortex M3 branch 
developers was why we don't use libopencm3 and we explained the 
drawbacks of a GPL license.

Even a GPL Expeption license instead of a BSD license for the OS (as 
preferred by Giovanni from ChibiOS) would be incompatible with a pure 
GPL license, which means if you integrate as you suggested libopencm3 
into your project, you have to disclose the complete source including 
your application as the GPL Exception license applies only to the OS but 
not to other GPLed code like libopencm3.

Regards

Henrik


On 15/02/2012 8:08 AM, Guillaume Fortaine wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: G.Di Sirio<disirio at ngi.it>
> Date: Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 10:34 PM
> Subject: Re: [En-Nut-Discussion] Fwd: Nut/OS BSD License (was Re:
> branches\devnut_m3n and STM32F2 devices)
>
>
> Hi Guillame,
>
> Interesting indeed, I agree that Linux and
> ChibiOS/Nut-OS/others-similar have different licensing issues.
>
> This is something that troubled me a lot when I decided to turn
> ChibiOS into an open source project. It is true that a BSD or similar
> license would offer the greatest freedom for users but that would mean
> for me to automatically surrender any right on the code. I also felt
> that releasing something, basically for free, under a BSD license
> could devalue it somehow. It is free, it can't be really good, right?
>
> It is also true that a GPL license makes a "linkable" OS unusable for
> commercial applications so I decided to offer it under GPL3 with a
> linking exception AND alternatively under a GPL-free proprietary
> license.
>
> Hobbyists, students and small commercial users don't have problems
> with GPL+exception, big corporate users usually don't want to be bound
> even by a watered down GPL. IMO GPL is actually an advantage if you
> want a project to remain truly open AND also try to be profitable.
>
> So far this GPL+exception solution proved to work pretty well, the
> project is growing nicely.
>
> ciao,
> Giovanni
>
> Il 14/02/2012 19.57, Guillaume Fortaine ha scritto:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> This is an interesting debate. What do you think of it ?
>>
>> I look forward to your answer,
>>
>> Best Regards,
>>
>> Guillaume FORTAINE
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 5:25 AM, Henrik Maier<hmnews at proconx.com>    wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello Guillaume,
>>>
>>> In reference to the article you are referring to, the situation for an
>>> embedded OS which is linked is very different to an OS like Linux. It is
>>> possible to use GPLed Linux with closed source applications. But if
>>> Nut/OS would be GPL, it would not be possible to keep your application
>>> code closed source which some users may prefer for commercial reasons.
>>>
>>> I believe the reason that Nut/OS has a BSD license contributes to the
>>> fact that we have a large commercial user base.
>>>
>>> Henrik
>>>
>>> On 14/02/2012 1:15 PM, Guillaume Fortaine wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I would greatly appreciate to invite you to a further reading of the
>>>> article entitled "Opinion: License to FUD (comparing GPL and BSD)" :
>>>>
>>>> http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/Linux-For-Devices-Articles/Opinion-License-to-FUD-comparing-GPL-and-BSD/
>>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> http://lists.egnite.de/mailman/listinfo/en-nut-discussion
> _______________________________________________
> http://lists.egnite.de/mailman/listinfo/en-nut-discussion
>