On Monday 27 April 2009 13:38:49 Simon Holm Thøgersen wrote: > man, 27 04 2009 kl. 12:27 +0200, skrev Kern Sibbald: > > Hello, > > > > On Monday 27 April 2009 09:48:42 Simon Holm Thøgersen wrote: > > > søn, 26 04 2009 kl. 21:43 +0200, skrev Kern Sibbald: > > > > On Sunday 26 April 2009 20:01:28 Simon Holm Thøgersen wrote: > > > > > Attempting to cross-compile Bacula for Windows I ran into the need > > > > > for the VSS headers. I could download them from Microsoft, but it > > > > > would be much more convenient for everyone if they were part of the > > > > > Bacula source. > > > > > > > > > > I'd like to do the work required to make this possible, if somebody > > > > > could outline a method that would make it eligible for distribution > > > > > with Bacula. Any ideas? > > > > > > > > Well, the microsoft VSS headers and a few source files cannot be > > > > redistributed. This is pointed out in our LICENSE agreement. They > > > > can be downloaded, compiled and the resulting binaries may be > > > > distributed with the code in them. Thus for the moment, there is no > > > > way we can release them. One of the problems is that we are running > > > > on a very old version of the VSS code, but which still works > > > > perfectly fine. > > > > > > > > One thing I have always wanted to do, but we just have never found > > > > time for it, is to rewrite the code from scratch ourselves -- much > > > > like mingw is written, then they could be freely distributed. In > > > > fact, certain of the header files seem to be already available on the > > > > net, but without any copyright. > > > > > > > > If someone such as yourself could make an Open Source version of the > > > > Microsoft VSS interface code that we use, we would be very happy to > > > > take it. However, not ever having done such a thing, I think it > > > > would be necessary to research how to do it in a way that one would > > > > not violate their copyright. In otherwords, you cannot just take > > > > their code and rewrite it, nor (to the best of my knowledge) look at > > > > their code and then write it in a different manner as both of those > > > > would possibly be a copyright violation. Perhaps the mingw or the > > > > cygwin project could be some help in pointing out appropriate > > > > techniques ... > > > > > > My thought was that perhaps the documentation on MSDN could be used. > > > Microsoft has copyright on the content of MSDN of course, but I can't > > > really see how it should be possible for any developer to use this > > > information for their programs if they... well, can't use it without > > > infringing copyrights! > > > > I believe that it is OK to read their publicly available documentation > > and create new files from that. However, we probably should confirm that > > from mingw, cygwin, or the Free Software Foundation. Since you are > > located in Europe, we have a bit more legal latitude than other parts of > > the world -- for example, in the EU it is perfectly legal to reverse > > engineer a proprietary program to be able to use its API. I suspect that > > the API documentation will contain virtually everything we need -- I just > > haven't had the time to look into it, so I am really pleased that this > > interests you. > > I just got a reply [1] on the mingw list that basically says MSDN is > what they use and gives [2] as "reference"
Nice that they are so responsive :-) > > [1] > http://n2.nabble.com/Headers-for-free-distribution-like-for-win32api-tp2724 >421p2725427.html [2] http://search.gmane.org/?query=w32api+msdn > +published&group=gmane.comp.gnu.mingw.user OK, thanks for checking. That is pretty much what I expected, but it is good to have the confirmation. > > > > Another thought was simply inspecting the Bacula source code and create > > > the headers based on that. Getting the values for enumerations and > > > constant definitions would still present a challenge though. > > > > > > I'll contact the mingw developers and hear their opinion. > > > Alternatively, I might contact the Free Software Foundation for help. > > > > OK. > > > > > > With the new EU directive that forced Microsoft to open their specs > > > > to the CFIS code, the same directives might apply to VSS as well, or > > > > in any case, perhaps Microsoft no longer considers it proprietary and > > > > would be willing to make their license a bit less restrictive. > > > > > > > > Anyway, if you have a desire to resolve this, we are very interested. > > > > Yes, I have a strong desire to resolve this -- we (me, the Bacula > > project, and Bacula Systems SA) are fully committed to Open Source (or > > Free Source if you like). > > > > Please don't hesitate if you need any help or have questions. > > > > Also, if you are sure you are going to contribute the replacement > > header(s), please go to www.bacula.org -> FSFE License, fill out two > > copies of the FLA, and send them to me at the indicated address. > > > > Thanks for your interest in this. > > Heh, you kind of replied to yourself here. Anyway, I'll start working on > this by reading MSDN documentation and get back when I've got something > close to submission. I'll make sure the necessary formalities are in > place as well. Thanks. Good luck ... Kern > > > Simon ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Crystal Reports - New Free Runtime and 30 Day Trial Check out the new simplified licensign option that enables unlimited royalty-free distribution of the report engine for externally facing server and web deployment. http://p.sf.net/sfu/businessobjects _______________________________________________ Bacula-devel mailing list Bacula-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bacula-devel
