Hi,

I have created my first embedded linux system at work which we are now almost ready to ship. I am no lawyer and we are a small company so I wanted to just check with people on LQ that I am interpreting the GPL licences correct.

The embedded system is based on Debian etch. Nothing fancy, just a base install of Debian + mysql + lighttpd + perl + dbd::mysql with some Perl and Bash scripts I have written.

Am I correct in thinking that all the neccessary licences for all the installed packages are located in /usr/share/doc? I understand that I need to keep and include all original licences and notices. So if I then place the content of /usr/share/doc on the supplied installation CD, am I then following all the requirements on that side?


The next thing if I am correct is that you need to provide the original source code for all binaries. I am guessing that the source code has to be the exact version of the code I am using on the box? Will a link to Debians website do or do I have to download the source code for all 216 installed packages? Is there a easy way to do this (maybe a apt-get command to download the src for all the already installed packages)?

Are there any other aspects I am forgetting that I need to cover? This is a commerical product and will be sold, but no code has been modified from the Debian etch release. Only perl scripts have been added ontop.


Thanks!

Actually you don't have to supply it on each CD. You can have it available on a website or upon request even if people want it. Just as long as it's available really. It's just a nice gesture to those that do include all the source, etc.

The only thing they should get on the CD is a LICENSE file that specifically states that it's GPL Software, etc. At least to my understanding. All the other packages used in Debian should already have these included in most cases. Including the source for each, well, you can point others to the websites, no reason to copy and redistribute them all.

Not sure on the first one, though most do seem to include a license in /usr/share/doc

I don't think you can just link to debian, but actually need to provide the source for the debian stuff you used. One of the reasons is you can't guarantee that the etch package won't be different (updated) from the one your distributing.

As for getting the source you could use apt-get source <package-name>, to get a simple list of the packages on your system do:
dpkg-query -f '${Package}\n' --show

This will let you do something like (in tcsh)
foreach f ( `dpkg-query -f '${Package}\n' --show` )
apt-get source $f
end

Only if they modified it for their software. They can link if it's untouched and only have to provide the source upon request or link to their own website if they have one to simplify things.

I'd recommend to ask licensing@gnu.org about GPL-related questions. Be sure to check their faq first, though.

Trickykid, what I meant was debian might update the package which makes it no longer what is on his widget.

Well that's when the release number comes into play. I don't think it would be their responsibility to keep update tabs on sources they don't maintain or change.

Okay, I have now used the above query command to download the source for all the installed packages. On the embedded devices webserver I have created a gpl folder with symlinks to the source code, the /usr/share/doc folder and the /usr/share/common-licences.

I think I have covered all the requirements now. If there is anything you feel I have forgotten please let me know.


Thanks for everyones help!