Neosmart Technologies, Inc. [NEOSMART] is a United States of America registered company that sells Microsoft Windows recovery tools, including "Easy Recovery Essentials" (a.k.a EasyRE)[1], at a range of prices[2] from US$19.75 to US$74.95 from their web-site[3].
EasyRE is provided as a digital download. The "Home" edition of "EasyRE for Windows 7" is an ISO image of approximately 59MB. It contains an El Torito GRUB bootable image[4] and an EFI GRUB boot-loader[5] licensed under GPLv2+, GPLv3, and GPLv3+[6]. The ISO-9660 file-system[7] contains the GRUB v2 second-stage[8] that loads a Linux kernel and initial RAM-Disk[9] containing the root file-system[10]. There are many F/OSS packages in the image[11] licensed under a variety of licenses including GPL (v2, v2+, v3, v3+) and LGPL. In addition to GNU GRUB v2 and the Linux kernel, there is Busybox v1.18.4 (GPL v2), BASH v4.2.0(2) (GPL v3+) and many others[12]. Searching for "GPL" finds the GPL v3 license text at "/usr/share/licenses/gpl.txt" and LGPL v2.1 at "/usr/share/licenses/lgpl.txt" (along with the BSD, MIT, Mozilla, RA-Link licenses.) Despite extensive searching I cannot find an offer to provide the open-source source-code either on the Neosmart web-site[13] or on the running image. In particular, the web-site open-source statement is big on claims of contributing to FOSS projects and includes the sentence "Below you’ll find a listing of various NeoSmart Technologies’ projects that make use of open source components" with no such list provided. There is also mention of a github profile where the company shares its open-source code[14] but that doesn't contain the source-code to the EasyRE distribution. There is some mention of F/OSS licensed packages for their EasyBCD product[15] but that only provides links to other web-sites that host the code. On 5th January 2014 I wrote to [email protected] requesting a copy of the source-code for the open-source parts of EasyRE but have received no response. This leads me to ask these questions: 1. How should NEOSMART make the offer for source-code? 2. Is it compliant with GPLv2 or later versions for NEOSMART to link to other organisations that host source-code? 3. In the case of EasyRE what should be the next steps? Is this an issue that should be handled by a F/OSS organisation dedicated to achieving license compliance in the USA (bearing in mind the very commercial nature of the NEOSMART distribution, extent of F/OSS projects incorporated, and lack of response to personal communication) ? ---- [1] https://neosmart.net/EasyRE/?ModPagespeed=noscript [2] https://neosmart.net/EasyRE/?ModPagespeed=noscript#buy [3] https://neosmart.net/?ModPagespeed=noscript [4] $ geteltorito ~/Downloads/EasyRE\ for\ Windows\ 7.iso >/dev/null Booting catalog starts at sector: 39 Manufacturer of CD: Image architecture: x86 Boot media type is: no emulation El Torito image starts at sector 1480 and has 4 sector(s) of 512 Bytes [5] $ strings /mnt/EasyRE/efi/boot/bootx64.efi | grep grub | wc -l 173 [6] $ strings /mnt/EasyRE/efi/boot/bootx64.efi | grep LICENSE LICENSE=GPLv3 LICENSE=GPLv3+ LICENSE=GPLv2+ LICENSE=GPLv3+ LICENSE=GPLv3+ LICENSE=GPLv3+ [7] $ sudo mount -o loop ~/Downloads/EasyRE\ for\ Windows\ 7.iso /mnt/EasyRE [8] $ cat /mnt/EasyRE/boot/grub/grub.cfg if [ "$EFIBOOT" = "0" ] ; then insmod vbe insmod vga insmod video_bochs insmod video_cirrus else insmod efi_uga insmod efi_gop fi set gfxmode=auto set gfxpayload=auto #set gfxmode=1024x768 #set gfxpayload=1024x768 insmod part_msdos linux /boot/bzImage rw root=/dev/null autologin sound=noconf kmap=en acpi=off noapic nolapic noacpi nomodeset @LXc0IC1lMTQyNjM1MzIzOCAtemVmYzQzNWMyYmYxYWQyZjYxNjk0OWZiYmU3MTM1ZmQ0YzQyZjQ0ZTU= initrd /boot/rootfs.gz boot [9] $ file /mnt/EasyRE/boot/bzimage /mnt/EasyRE/boot/bzimage: Linux kernel x86 boot executable bzImage, version 2.6.37-slitaz (root@slitaz) #5 SMP Tue Aug 27 20:53:49 UTC 2013, RO-rootFS, root_dev 0x1641, swap_dev 0x3, Normal VGA [10] $ cat /mnt/EasyRE/boot/rootfs.gz | lzma -d | sudo cpio -id 273701 blocks $ ls bin dev etc home init lib media mnt proc root sbin sys tmp usr var [11] $ ls var/lib/tazpkg/installed 915resolution glibc libkrb5 midori slitaz-tools-boxes xorg-libXfont acl glibc-base libkrb5support nano speex xorg-libXft alsa-lib glibmm libltdl ncurses sqlite xorg-libXi alsa-utils glib-networking libmad ncurses-common startup-notification xorg-libXinerama atk gmp libnotify ncursesw sudo xorg-libxkbfile atkmm gparted libogg ntfs-3g sysfsutils xorg-libXmu attr gpxe libpng obconf syslinux xorg-libXpm bash grub4dos-linux libsexy openbox syslinux-extra xorg-libXrandr busybox gtk+ libsigc++ openssh tazlito xorg-libXrender bzip2 gtkdialog libsoup openssl tazpkg xorg-libXss bzlib gtkmm libsqlite p11-kit testdisk xorg-libXt cairo hal libssl pango tiff xorg-libXtst cairomm hardinfo libtasn1 pangomm transset-df xorg-libXv cdparanoia-III hicolor-icon-theme libtaz parted ttf-dejavu xorg-libXvMC cdrkit isapnptools libunique pciids udev xorg-libXxf86vm clamav jpeg libusb pciutils util-linux-ng-blkid xorg-rgb clearlooks kbd-base libusb-compat pcmanfm util-linux-ng-getopt xorg-server cookutils krb5 libvorbis pcmciautils util-linux-ng-sfdisk xorg-setxkbmap coreutils lcms libwebkit pcre util-linux-ng-uuid xorg-xauth dbus leafpad libxcb pixman viewnior xorg-xcompmgr dbus-glib libao libxml2 poppler vorbis-tools xorg-xf86-input-evdev depmod libboost-filesystem libxslt popt vte xorg-xf86-input-evtouch desktop-file-utils libboost-system linux posixovl wireless_tools xorg-xf86-input-keyboard dialog libcap linux-agp ppp wpa_supplicant xorg-xf86-input-microtouch dosfstools libcddb linux-crypto psmisc xcb-util xorg-xf86-input-mouse e2fsprogs libcomerr linux-drm readline xorg xorg-xf86-input-mutouch enchant libcomerr3 linux-firmware retawq xorg-base-fonts xorg-xf86-input-plpevtch epdfview libcrypto linux-slitaz rp-pppoe xorg-libfontenc xorg-xf86-input-synaptics expat libcurl linux-sound sakura xorg-libICE xorg-xf86-input-vmmouse firmware-rt2x00 libdrm linux-wireless sftp-server xorg-libpciaccess xorg-xf86-video-fbdev flac libevent lua shared-mime-info xorg-libSM xorg-xkbcomp fontconfig libffi lxappearance slim xorg-libX11 xorg-xkeyboard-config freetype libgcrypt lxpanel slitaz-base-files xorg-libXau xorg-xmodmap fuse libgio lxrandr slitaz-boot-scripts xorg-libXaw xorg-xrandr gamin libgiomm lxtask slitaz-configs xorg-libXcomposite xorg-xset gcc-lib-base libglade lzlib slitaz-configs-base xorg-libXcursor xorg-xsetroot gcolor2 libgnutls lzma slitaz-icon xorg-libXdamage xterm gdk-pixbuf libgpg-error menu-cache slitaz-menus xorg-libXdmcp yad gettext-base libidn mesa slitaz-polar-cursors xorg-libXext zlib glib libjpeg mhwaveedit slitaz-tools xorg-libXfixes [12] $ sudo find . -type f -exec grep -l GPL {} \; ./usr/bin/groups ./usr/bin/base64 ./usr/bin/users ./usr/bin/fmt ./usr/bin/ngettext ./usr/bin/csplit ./usr/bin/dumpsexp ./usr/bin/shred ./usr/bin/asn1Decoding ./usr/bin/gettext.sh ./usr/bin/burnbox ./usr/bin/ptx ./usr/bin/split ./usr/bin/paste ./usr/bin/mhwaveedit ./usr/bin/factor ./usr/bin/shuf ./usr/bin/od ./usr/bin/sshbox ./usr/bin/asn1Coding ./usr/bin/asn1Parser ./usr/bin/envsubst ./usr/bin/join ./usr/bin/gettext ./usr/bin/idn ./usr/bin/wpa_supplicant ./usr/sbin/pppoe-connect ./usr/sbin/pppoe-setup ./usr/sbin/pppoe-start ./usr/sbin/pppoe-status ./usr/sbin/pppoe-stop ./usr/lib/hardinfo/modules/benchmark.so ./usr/lib/hardinfo/modules/devices.so ./usr/lib/hardinfo/modules/network.so ./usr/lib/hardinfo/modules/computer.so ./usr/lib/libbz2.so.1.0.6 ./usr/lib/hal/scripts/hal-system-wol-enabled ./usr/lib/hal/scripts/hal-system-wol-enable ./usr/lib/hal/scripts/linux/hal-system-wol-supported-linux ./usr/lib/hal/scripts/linux/hal-system-wol-linux ./usr/lib/hal/scripts/linux/hal-system-wol-enabled-linux ./usr/lib/hal/scripts/linux/hal-system-wol-enable-linux ./usr/lib/hal/scripts/hal-system-wol-supported ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders.cache ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-xbm.so ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-png.so ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-bmp.so ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-gif.so ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-tga.so ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-wbmp.so ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-ani.so ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-xpm.so ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-pnm.so ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-icns.so ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-ico.so ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-tiff.so ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-pcx.so ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-jpeg.so ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-qtif.so ./usr/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-ras.so ./usr/lib/libclamav.so.6.1.12 ./usr/lib/libparted.so.1.0.0 ./usr/share/locale/vi/LC_MESSAGES/psmisc.mo ./usr/share/locale/zh_CN/LC_MESSAGES/psmisc.mo ./usr/share/locale/cs/LC_MESSAGES/psmisc.mo ./usr/share/locale/de/LC_MESSAGES/psmisc.mo ./usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/ph ./usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/fr ./usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/ir ./usr/share/alsa/cards/SI7018/sndoc-mixer.alisp ./usr/share/alsa/cards/SI7018/sndop-mixer.alisp ./usr/share/alsa/sndo-mixer.alisp ./usr/share/common-lisp/source/gpg-error/gpg-error.asd ./usr/share/doc/tazpkg/tazpkg.en.html ./usr/share/doc/tazpkg/tazpkg.pt_BR.html ./usr/share/doc/tazpkg/tazpkg.ru.html ./usr/share/doc/tazlito/tazlito.en.html ./usr/share/doc/tazlito/tazlito.pt_BR.html ./usr/share/doc/psmisc/copyright ./usr/share/doc/psmisc/README ./usr/share/mime/packages/freedesktop.org.xml ./usr/share/mime/application/vnd.hp-hpgl.xml ./usr/share/licenses/gpl.txt ./usr/share/licenses/lgpl.txt ./var/lib/tazpkg/packages.desc ./var/lib/tazpkg/packages.txt ./var/lib/tazpkg/installed/clamav/description.txt ./var/lib/tazpkg/packages.desc.bak ./var/lib/tazpkg/packages.txt.bak ./bin/busybox ./bin/bash ./sbin/hwsetup ./etc/ppp/firewall-standalone ./etc/ppp/firewall-masq ./etc/ppp/pppoe.conf ./etc/ppp/pppoe-server-options [13] https://neosmart.net/wiki/open-source/ https://neosmart.net/wiki/easyre/getting-started/ [14] https://github.com/neosmart/ [15] https://neosmart.net/wiki/open-source/easybcd/
