Licensing conditions: a question

Licensing conditions: a question

[fergus]

Please can you offer some guidance about the requirements of the supplier of
a piece of software that uses Cygwin to run?

Circumstance 1
==============

I am so good and kind that my software is free. Ask me for it and I'll give
it to you (or you can download it from my site) with instructions on how to
use it. By the way, it needs cygwin1.dll to run (and might or might not need
or at least benefit from other parts of the Cygwin provision, eg rxvt).

Requirement 1
=============

	* make available the sources for the software

and one of 

	* invite interested parties to visit Cygwin to (minimal) get
cygwin1.dll or (more sophisticated) download and install some/ all of the
entire provision

or

	* supply Cygwin setup and all sources on CD or DVD

Circumstance 2
==============

Almost identical to (1) except my software is not free: you can get it from
me in exchange for cash. As before, it needs cygwin1.dll to run (and might
or might not need or at least benefit from other parts of the Cygwin
provision, eg rxvt).

Requirement 2
=============

This is not at all clear to me. Is Requirement 2 unchanged from Requirement
1 or does the supplier have to engage in a legal contract with Cygwin
authorities, and does this contract entail the transfer of funds from said
supplier to said Cygwin authorities?

Thank you.

Fergus

Re: Licensing conditions: a question

[Corinna Vinschen]

On Jan 18 10:40, fergus wrote:
> Please can you offer some guidance about the requirements of the supplier of
> a piece of software that uses Cygwin to run?
> 
> Circumstance 1
> ==============
> 
> I am so good and kind that my software is free. Ask me for it and I'll give
> it to you (or you can download it from my site) with instructions on how to
> use it. By the way, it needs cygwin1.dll to run (and might or might not need
> or at least benefit from other parts of the Cygwin provision, eg rxvt).
> 
> Requirement 1
> =============
> 
> 	* make available the sources for the software

Definitely.

> and one of 
> 
> 	* invite interested parties to visit Cygwin to (minimal) get
> cygwin1.dll or (more sophisticated) download and install some/ all of the
> entire provision
> 
> or
> 
> 	* supply Cygwin setup and all sources on CD or DVD

You have to provide the sources by yourself, using the same distribution
mechanism as you provide for downloading the binaries, according to
Section 3 of the GPL (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html).  See also
the GPL FAQ http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html, here especially
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#TOCSourceAndBinaryOnDifferentSites,
second paragraph, which explains it nicely.

We would obviously prefer if you just provide your application including
source, and just require the user to download Cygwin from cygwin dot com
to run your application, instead of providing your own version of the
Cygwin DLL.

> Circumstance 2
> ==============
> 
> Almost identical to (1) except my software is not free: you can get it from
> me in exchange for cash. As before, it needs cygwin1.dll to run (and might
> or might not need or at least benefit from other parts of the Cygwin
> provision, eg rxvt).
> 
> Requirement 2
> =============
> 
> This is not at all clear to me. Is Requirement 2 unchanged from Requirement
> 1 or does the supplier have to engage in a legal contract with Cygwin
> authorities, and does this contract entail the transfer of funds from said
> supplier to said Cygwin authorities?

Taking cash for an application is not a problem.  The problem is that
in providing the binary whatever way you choose, the user has the right
to get the sources the same way, too.  You linked against the GPLed
Cygwin DLL, so your application is also GPLed.

Unless you purchase the Cygwin buy-out license from Red Hat, which is
a fixed amount of money per project.  For details you'd have to contact
Red Hat, see http://cygwin.com/licensing.html.


HTH,
Corinna

-- 
Corinna Vinschen                  Please, send mails regarding Cygwin to
Cygwin Project Co-Leader          cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Red Hat