Hi, On 03/09/2013 08:42 AM, Enoch wrote: > Hi Erich& All; > > Erich Waelde<ew.fo...@nassur.net> writes: > >> I do not see a way to combine amforth (GPL) with a proprietary >> application written in amforth. On the other hand, I'm of course >> not a lawyer. > > Let's assume that your customer installs generic Amforth software (asm + > libs + your special modifications) into a proprietry AVR based system > for dish-washer control. There is no doubt that this system is GPL as > well (i.e., all "your special modifications" must be exposed). Now, you > supply your customer seperatly with dish-washer application software as > a set of Forth files to compile/upload. Knowing about GPL what I know no > one can make a serious argument that your dish-washer application is GPL > as well and needs to be exposed to the prying eyes of competing > dish-washer manufacturers [who are eager to learn how you managed to > reach such a great electric efficiency :-) ] > > Still, there is some inconvenience involved in the above as we need to > maintain an "arms length" distance between loading of the GPL stuff and > loading of the proprietry stuff. Here Matthias, as the copyright holder, > can step in and allow certain exceptions. For example, permit combined > loading of hex code.
Well. If I'm after your dishwasher programm, I just buy a diswasher, then I get a GPL system (amforth) and the source code of the application. Inconveniently I need to upload the source myself. Mangling the source code into a blob of asm does not help. Encrypting the mangled asm blob does not help much either, because it must be "run" on the controller in clear. IANAL, but I'm not convinced at all, that your "selling" dishwasher can be covered by the "I can use GPL software for whatever purpose for my own use" (freedom 0) and then add a proprietary piece of code to make it a functional dishwasher. Ok, even if you sell a "diy dishwasher assembly kit" consisting of dishwasher, programmer, software, I'm not convinced. It all boils down to the question, whether Amforth+YourProprietaryApplication is a derived work or not. A Forth definition compiled in at the prompt is indistinguishable from the same definition loaded as asm, i.e. part of amforth. Maybe someone else has better arguments. > Being corp. world friendly has the power to transform the Amforth > project... In my humble opinion not a worthwhile route to take. But that's not for me to decide, because I'm not the copyright holder. Cheers, Erich ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Symantec Endpoint Protection 12 positioned as A LEADER in The Forrester Wave(TM): Endpoint Security, Q1 2013 and "remains a good choice" in the endpoint security space. For insight on selecting the right partner to tackle endpoint security challenges, access the full report. http://p.sf.net/sfu/symantec-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Amforth-devel mailing list for http://amforth.sf.net/ Amforth-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/amforth-devel
