example, if we buy some modules from other company without source code, = how to deal with it? Would you please give me some suggestion for = commerce development like this? I agree to your opinion that we should not violate the spirit of = freedom through the middle-ware layer. Our idea is to open as much as we = can ( not to open all), but not to close as much as possible.=20
Any comments and suggetion are valuable for us, thanks. =20 >;-----Original Message----- >;From: m. allan noah [mailto:kitno455 at gmail.com]=20 >;Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2008 9:03 AM >;To: Wang Mengqiang >;Cc: sane-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org >;Subject: Re: [sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve=20 >;the license issues in using sane >; >;On 6/4/08, Wang Mengqiang <WangMengqiang at canon-ib.com.cn> wrote: >;> Hello, everyone, >;> >;> My name is Wang mengqiang, I am expecting to get your help=20 >;on development very much. >;> >;> I am investigating to develop a commerce driver on linux. =20 >;I have studied the sane project for some time. And, we are=20 >;planning to develop the driver on sane. But, I have some=20 >;doubts on license of sane so, I'd like to get the answer from=20 >;sane directly. >; >;we are not lawyers, but we will try to help. >; >;> 1) In the development, we plan to use several special=20 >;modules which do not contain any open source code from sane=20 >;or other party, because they contain some tecnology that we=20 >;do not want to open. So, that is, our backend is composed of=20 >;two parts, one part is open source code which we refer to the=20 >;source code from sane, and another part is one that should=20 >;not be open. Of course, the first part(open source part) will=20 >;call the functions in the second part(closed source part).=20 >;After compiling and linking them together, we get the=20 >;backend. My questions is whether we can keep the second part=20 >;closed in this way, whether this way comform to the license=20 >;of sane(GPL)? Please refer to the attached image for the=20 >;architecture. >; >;SANE is GPL, with an added exception to allow proprietary=20 >;front-end programs to link against it. What you are=20 >;suggesting is the opposite- you wish to have a free=20 >;'middleware' layer, which loads closed backends to do that=20 >;actual work? I think this is in violation of the spirit of=20 >;the license exception, though perhaps not the letter. Please=20 >;read the file LICENSE in the sane-backends source, it=20 >;attempts to clarify the situation, by specifically referring=20 >;to the 'licensing status of the _program_ that uses the=20 >;libraries', not the status of a library. >; >;Note also that your plan prevents those of us that use=20 >;alternative CPU's (PPC, ARM) from using your code, unless you=20 >;are going to compile it for us. >; >;allan >;-- >;"The truth is an offense, but not a sin" >;