Digit, Thank you for not using the title "Developer Advocate"
On Jun 30, 4:34 pm, Digit <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I'm certainly going to be slapped for talking publicy about all this in this > forum, but, as an > Android team member, I really think it's time to correct some > misunderstandings before > the wild hyperbole that has been prospering in this thread goes further. > > First of all, regarding the alleged GPL violations: I'll remind you that the > only components > covered by the GPL that we distributed are: the kernel image and the > emulator library. > > (no, we never distributed javadoc, please check your zip files before making > bold but erroneous > claims) > > We distributed updated binaries of these GPL-ed components to the ADC round > 1 winners. > Technically , any one of them can ask us for the corresponding sources, and > would be free > to distribute them under the GPL publicly. but nobody did that until now, > and I doubt that > would be very useful for the following reasons: > > - first of all, you could only use them to try to run the *same* M3 or M5 > system images. > > - second, it's not even guaranteed that the updated emulator and/or > kernel images would > run M3/M5 well. As the guy in charge of the emulator, I certainly don't > want to have to > support that kind of combination. > > - the kernel sources are already available from our git server anyway. > > remember that, strictly speaking, the GPL only forces us to distribute the > sources to the users that > received the binaries, not to the public at large. you could ask us to be > kind by releasing updated > emulator sources, however I'm really certain that there would be nearly-zero > practical value to > anyone in the community. What you need is a new SDK, not a very few pieces > made out of > GPL sources. > > So in short, there hasn't been any GPL violation that I'm aware of, and rest > assured that the Android team > has been very cautious about licensing issues from the very start. If we > really made a mistake, I think > we'll be more than happy to correct it though. > > Now, regarding the NDA. Certain people have made some really wild guesses > about it even though > they've never seen it or know what it covers exactly. Please note that * > nobody* from Google or the OHA > ever claimed that the NDA applied to the GPL-ed code. it's here to protect > the updated system images > and APIs which are still, at the moment, not open source. why would we have > updated our > git server with updated kernel sources otherwise ? > > But the root of the problem is certainly not licensing but that there hasn't > been a new public SDK release > since M5, while at the same time a small group of people received updated > versions privately. > > I really don't know precisely why this happened; but I'm sure it has more to > do with logistics and reducing > the burden of support while we shift priorities (to shipping real devices) > rather than politics or any will of our > part to "hurt the community" (come one guys, we are *not* that stupid... !) > > While others in the team may disagree, I think it was very very unfortunate; > some of us are trying to > prepare a new SDK release, but it's a lot harder than I can comment on here, > so don't hold your breath > because it might not happen that soon. > > And I'd like to add that, as we said, we're still totally committed to > release the platform under the > Apache 2.0 license. *Many* people in the Android team, and at Google in > general, are looking forwards > with excitement when this will happen this year. > > Finally, I'd like to thank all the people in the community that are > currently keeping their cool despite this > uncomfortable situation. We feel your pain, understand it, even though we > can only ask you to be patient > at the moment. > > Voila, that's all I'm going to say... thanks for your time and take care. > > On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 9:32 PM, André Charles Legendre < > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > It seems that we have not the same way to read this : > > > # No Agreements: There MUST NOT be any requirement for execution of a > > license agreement, NDA, grant, click-through, or any other form of > > paperwork to deploy conforming implementations of the standard. > > > But it seems that many people have the same question than me (consider > > the fact that part of SDK are derivative from GPL projects). > > > Below a statement from Richard Stallman who details its answer so it > > would be easier to read without mistake : > > > This is the mail archive of the [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list for the > > GCC project. > > Index Nav: [Date Index] [Subject Index] [Author Index] [Thread Index] > > Message Nav: [Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] > > GPL and NDA > > > * To: gcc at gcc dot gnu dot org > > * Subject: GPL and NDA > > * From: Richard Stallman <rms at gnu dot org> > > * Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 05:07:10 -0600 (MDT) > > * Reply-to: rms at gnu dot org > > > GPL-covered code may not be distributed under an NDA. > > To do so is a violation of the GPL. > > > If someone asks you to sign an NDA for receiving GPL-covered code that > > is copyright FSF, please inform the FSF immediately. If it involves > > GPL-covered code that has some other copyright holder, please inform > > that copyright holder, just as you would for any other kind of > > violation of the GPL. > > > It is possible for a person or company to develop changes to a > > GPL-covered program and sign an NDA promising not to release these > > changes *to anyone*. This is a different case. As long as these > > changes are not distributed at all, a fortiori they are not > > distributed in a way that violates the GPL. > > > However, if and when the changes are distributed to another person or > > outside the company, they must be distributed under the terms of the > > GPL, not under an NDA. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. 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