Re: [oc] RE: [pci] PCI core ( LICENSING )

[Richard Herveille <richard@asics.ws>]

Licenses again huh. Seems a never ending story.

Problem with the GPL style license are the terms 'linked' and 'derived work'.
We all UNDERSTAND that somebody who uses an OpenCores core in a proprietary 
project does NOT have to open their proprietary core. Problem is that in fact 
the OpenCores core and the proprietary cores are 'linked' together to form 
one netlist. Someone then might argue that the entire project is a 'derived 
work' from the OpenCores core and that the entire work needs to be opened. We 
do not want that, but we should make sure that it is not up to a judge to 
decide what to do. Therefore we need to clarify this in the 
license/disclaimer header.

eCos faced the same problem. In eCos 2.0 they slightly modified the license 
and disclaimer header (see below)


// This file is part of eCos, the Embedded Configurable Operating System.
// Copyright (C) 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Red Hat, Inc.
//
// eCos is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
// the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
// Software Foundation; either version 2 or (at your option) any later 
version.
//
// eCos is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
// WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
// FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
// for more details.
//
// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
// with eCos; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
// 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA.
//
// As a special exception, if other files instantiate templates or use macros
// or inline functions from this file, or you compile this file and link it
// with other works to produce a work based on this file, this file does not
// by itself cause the resulting work to be covered by the GNU General Public
// License. However the source code for this file must still be made available
// in accordance with section (3) of the GNU General Public License.
//
// This exception does not invalidate any other reasons why a work based on
// this file might be covered by the GNU General Public License.
//
// Alternative licenses for eCos may be arranged by contacting Red Hat, Inc.
// at http://sources.redhat.com/ecos/ecos-license/


Interresting here is the exception clause. This is exactly what we want. I 
therefore suggest adding this exception clause to all cores using a GPL style 
license.

Richard



> Hi!
>
>
> We use LGPL license. If you change anything in the core you have downloaded
> (in this case PCI IP Core), you have to report any modifications that you
> have made to the PCI IP Core. But you DO NOT have to give/report anything
> else (other sources/drivers, etc.) that was developed only by your staff.
> LGPL license is only relevant to the I.P. core that you have downloaded
> from OpenCores.
>
> For example, if you by an ARM core and wish to connect it with a PCI IP
> Core (from OpenCores), you would have to make some changes to the PCI IP
> Core in order to connect to ARM core with AMBA bus. You are only obliged to
> report changes that you have made to the PCI IP Core (as required by LGPL
> license). You are not required to publish ARM core under the LGPL license
> and besides, the ARM corporation WILL NOT ALLOW you to publish it's ARM
> core.
>
> It is evident that LGPL license is only applicable to I.P. cores obtained
> from OpenCores.
>
>
>
> I hope this helps.
>
> Best regards,
> 	Tadej
>
> NB: I have sent this mail to CORES mailing list also due to frequent
> questions regarding licensing of the I.P. cores.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-pci@opencores.org [mailto:owner-pci@opencores.org]On Behalf
> Of Yanick Côté
> Sent: 2. april 2003 18:52
> To: pci@opencores.org
> Subject: [pci] PCI core
>
>
> Hi,
> Is your project protected by any GPL or LGPL license ? If yes, which one
> ? We are strongly interessed in using the PCI core in a new design, but
> I don't know a lot yet about GPL/LGPL licenses and we can't give to
> anyone the other sources from our design. We agree that if we modify the
> PCI core we have to give you a list of the modifications but what about
> the other sources/drivers in the system developed only by our staff ?
>
> Thanks !


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