Stuart, Ales, DJ and others, Sorry to put you through this but clarifing the license on symbols is important.
DJ had an earlier observation "The GPL doesn't restrict use at all. What you can't do is *distribute* a combination of GPL and non-GPL works that are intended to only be used together. You can if they're "mere aggregates". IMHO this means if you distribute geda symbols as geda symbols, such that anyone can use them with geda programs, any schematic can use them, because that's the intended purpose of geda symbols, and they're not "part of" your schematic (as long as you don't embed them). If, however, you embed a GPL'd symbol into a non-GPL'd schematic (or visa-versa), you can no longer distribute that schematic under any terms. But you can still use it locally." Stuart, I think your suggested use of the FSF exception for fonts is excellent. I would request that it explicitly state that the schematics, netlists, layout sources, gerber and simulation results files that are produced are what consitutes the design. On an aside the exception is interesting in that it uses the concept of embeding the font in the document. An idea which is similar to say embeding the source code into an executable. Or embeding a GEDA symbol into a schematic. Thanks, Steve Meier On Thu, 2007-03-15 at 13:29 -0400, Stuart Brorson wrote: > OK, what do people thing about the below text w.r.t. the > symbol/footprint license issue? I'll let folks discuss & flame for a > few days, and then -- assuming we achieve consensus -- I can stick it > on the gEDA website if people agree it makes sense. If it's > too much mumbo-jumbo, I can also just forget it. Dan, Harry, > DJ, you'll have to do the same on > the PCB website -- if you agree with the text, of course! > > Stuart > > ---------------------------------------------------------- > A word about licensing. > > All software components of gEDA/gaf, as well as PCB, are released > under the GNU Public License (GPL). However, some confusion exists > about the schematic symbols and footprints. What license do they use? > Will GPL symbols/footprints "infect" your design, thereby requiring > you to release your design to the public? If you modify the symbols or > footprints, must you release the modified versions under the GPL? > > The goal of the gEDA Project is to provide an open-source EDA Suite > which may be used for commerical as well as non-commercial projects. > Our tools are aimed for use by students, educators, consultants, > hobbiests, and -- yes -- corporate engineers. We are not interested > in exerting any control over your designs, or forcing you to reveal > proprietary information contained in your designs. > > Symbols and footprints are similar to the font files used in document > processing software -- they are graphical objects used to express your > ideas. We want you to retain control of your own ideas (your design), > while the gEDA Project retains a say in how you redistribute the > symbol and footprint files themselves. Our goals for the > symbols and footprints are: > > * We wish to distribute the symbols and footprints under a licencing > scheme which encourages that you give back to the community if you > make changes to the symbols or footprints. The GPL ensures this. > > * We wish to specifically prohibit anybody from building our > symbols or footprints into their products, and then place > restrictions on how the resulting product may be used. If you > incorporate our symbols or footprints -- whether modified or > unmodified -- into your software distribution, > then you must allow for the symbols and footprint's continued > redistribution. The GPL ensures this. > > * However, we do not wish to "infect" your design, or force you to > release your proprietary design information if you use our symbols or > footprints in your design. > > The Free Software Foundation has recognized a possible conflict of > the base GPL with the issue of fonts (and, by analogy, symbols & > footprints). Their solution is to use an exemption clause in the GPL > which you explicitly insert for fonts. Read it here: > > http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-faq.html#FontException > > Therefore, using this as a template, all symbols and footprints > released with gEDA/gaf and PCB are covered under the GPL with the > following exeption clause: > > As a special exception, if you create a design which uses this > symbol/footprint, and embed this symbol/footprint or unaltered > portions of this symbol/footprint into the design, this > symbol/footprint does not by itself cause the resulting design to be > covered by the GNU General Public License. This exception does not > however invalidate any other reasons why the design might be covered > by the GNU General Public License. If you modify this > symbol/footprint, you may extend this exception to your version of the > symbol/footprint, but you are not obligated to do so. If you do not > wish to do so, delete this exception statement from your version. > > If we distribute symbols or footprints with a licence contained within > the symbol/footprint file, then the file should contain the entire GPL > along with the above text. > > > _______________________________________________ > geda-dev mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-dev _______________________________________________ geda-dev mailing list [email protected] http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-dev
