Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 13:38:15 -0700 (MST) From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org> To: ian_stewart@nyro.com (Ian H. Stewart) Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Can FreeBSD be used in a commercial way? Message-ID: <199602062038.NAA03259@phaeton.artisoft.com> In-Reply-To: <3117A001.E4E@nyro.com> from "Ian H. Stewart" at Feb 6, 96 10:37:53 am
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> I am interested in using FreeBSD > as a foundation for a complete OS. > What is needed to use or license the > 2.1 release so that we may sell it > commercially with value. You must observe the "due credit" clause of the UCB license when you advertise specific features. See the source files that implement the features you are interested in advertising. You can't advertise that derivation implies endoresement. For GPL'ed components, you must not include them, or you must observe the GPL license restrictions -- though *only* for those components. There are kernel modules that are GPL. They must not be linked into the distributed kernel. Specifically, there is a German ISDN driver. No GPL components are required to build a working system. Basically this boils down to: 1) Rip out, replace, or include source for, GPL'ed components. For instance, you should use BSD PAX instead of GNU TAR if you plan on distributing completely without source, since tar is used for installation and package management. 2) If you advertise specific features, you must give credit to the authors of those features. For instance, if you advertise a unified VM and buffer cache, you have to creadit the people in /sys/vm/*.[ch] in the fine print without implying that they endorse your product (John Dyson & company). 3) You have to include the credit clauses for everyone in the sources for the components you use. This should take one or two pages of fine print (like the trademark acknowledgement page) in your distributed docuemntation. Anyone else: feel free to correct me if you interpret the distribution terms differently. Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.
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