openadk/docs/legal-notice.txt

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[[legal-info]]

Legal notice and licensing
==========================

Complying with open source licenses
-----------------------------------

All of the end products of OpenADK (toolchain, root filesystem, kernel,
bootloaders) contain open source software, released under various licenses.

Using open source software gives you the freedom to build rich embedded
systems, choosing from a wide range of packages, but also imposes some
obligations that you must know and honour.
Some licenses require you to publish the license text in the documentation of
your product. Others require you to redistribute the source code of the
software to those that receive your product.

The exact requirements of each license are documented in each package, and
it is your responsibility (or that of your legal office) to comply with those
requirements.

Complying with the OpenADK license
----------------------------------

OpenADK itself is an open source software, released under the
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html[GNU General Public
License, version 2] or (at your option) any later version.
However, being a build system, it is not normally part of the end product:
if you develop the root filesystem, kernel, bootloader or toolchain for a
device, the code of OpenADK is only present on the development machine, not
in the device storage.

Nevertheless, the general view of the OpenADK developer is that you should
release the OpenADK source code along with the source code of other packages
when releasing a product that contains GPL-licensed software.
This is because the
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html[GNU GPL]
defines the "'complete source code'" for an executable work as "'all the
source code for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface
definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation
of the executable'".
OpenADK is part of the 'scripts used to control compilation and
installation of the executable', and as such it is considered part of the
material that must be redistributed.

Keep in mind that this is only the OpenADK developer opinion, and you
should consult your legal department or lawyer in case of any doubt.