Including just cygwin1.dll in an archive

Including just cygwin1.dll in an archive

[David Benn]

Hi all

From the cygwin Licensing terms on the web, it appears to me that I
cannot distribute an archive that looks like this:

Archive:  scope_dist.zip
  Length     Date   Time    Name
 --------    ----   ----    ----
        0  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/
   971080  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/cygwin1.dll
        0  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/driver/
   121158  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/driver/ascom.dll
    22297  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/driver/skeleton.dll
    22706  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/scope_client.dll
    22814  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/tests.exe
 --------                   -------
  1160055                   7 files

for end users, irrespective of whether another archive containing full
sources, Makefiles etc is separately released. 

The point of contention here is the inclusion of cygwin1.dll. This is an
*unmodified* cygwin1.dll.

Can someone please advise me or tell me where to find out?

I'd be happy to replace the need for this dll with static linking,
assuming that's even *possible* under cygwin. If it is, a pointer would
be appreciated. 

Of course, I'd have thought that whether the code is in the cygwin1.dll
or in my binaries is a fine distinction.

Note that this is a freeware project so paying money for license fees is
not my first preference.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Rgds,

DJB
 

Re: Including just cygwin1.dll in an archive

[Christopher Faylor]

On Sun, Sep 11, 2005 at 09:31:02PM +0930, David Benn wrote:
From the cygwin Licensing terms on the web, it appears to me that I
>cannot distribute an archive that looks like this:
>
>Archive:  scope_dist.zip
>  Length     Date   Time    Name
> --------    ----   ----    ----
>        0  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/
>   971080  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/cygwin1.dll
>        0  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/driver/
>   121158  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/driver/ascom.dll
>    22297  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/driver/skeleton.dll
>    22706  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/scope_client.dll
>    22814  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/tests.exe
> --------                   -------
>  1160055                   7 files
>
>for end users, irrespective of whether another archive containing full
>sources, Makefiles etc is separately released. 
>
>The point of contention here is the inclusion of cygwin1.dll. This is an
>*unmodified* cygwin1.dll.

If you distribute a binary then, under the GPL, you must make the source code
available for the binary using the same method.  It doesn't have to be available
in the same archive.

Look at the way the cygwin distribution does it.  The sources are distributed
separately.

If you are actually distributing the cygwin DLL, then you need to also distribute
the sources to the DLL as well.  Again, the source code can be in a different
package.

So, in the above, you'd presumably have to provide the sources for
ascom.dll, skeleton.dll, scope_client.dll, tests.exe, and cygwin1.dll.  The
easiest way to provide the sources to the cygwin DLL is just to use the
cygwin source archives as can be downloaded from the cygwin setup.exe program.

OTOH, we usually advise against people distributing the DLL since it will cause
problems if your archive is extracted into an existing cygwin installation.  It's
usually better to just point people to the cygwin web site and have them install
what is needed*.  In that scenario, you wouldn't have to provide the sources
for the cygwin DLL but you would need to provide sources for everyting else.

>Can someone please advise me or tell me where to find out?
>
>I'd be happy to replace the need for this dll with static linking,
>assuming that's even *possible* under cygwin. If it is, a pointer would
>be appreciated. 

Static linking wouldn't buy you anything.  You'd still need to provide
the source code.

The GPL FAQ is here:  http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html .  You might
want to familiarize yourself with it.

cgf

*Yes, I understand that this may install more than what you want but you
still have to take the problem of existing cygwin configurations into
account no matter what you do.

RE: Including just cygwin1.dll in an archive

[David Benn]

Thank you Christopher.

Rgds,

DJB

-----Original Message-----
From: cygwin-licensing-owner@cygwin.com
[mailto:cygwin-licensing-owner@cygwin.com] On Behalf Of Christopher
Faylor
Sent: Monday, 12 September 2005 7:30 AM
To: cygwin-licensing@cygwin.com
Subject: Re: Including just cygwin1.dll in an archive


On Sun, Sep 11, 2005 at 09:31:02PM +0930, David Benn wrote:
From the cygwin Licensing terms on the web, it appears to me that I 
>cannot distribute an archive that looks like this:
>
>Archive:  scope_dist.zip
>  Length     Date   Time    Name
> --------    ----   ----    ----
>        0  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/
>   971080  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/cygwin1.dll
>        0  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/driver/
>   121158  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/driver/ascom.dll
>    22297  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/driver/skeleton.dll
>    22706  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/scope_client.dll
>    22814  09-10-05 23:43   scope_dist/tests.exe
> --------                   -------
>  1160055                   7 files
>
>for end users, irrespective of whether another archive containing full 
>sources, Makefiles etc is separately released.
>
>The point of contention here is the inclusion of cygwin1.dll. This is 
>an
>*unmodified* cygwin1.dll.

If you distribute a binary then, under the GPL, you must make the source
code available for the binary using the same method.  It doesn't have to
be available in the same archive.

Look at the way the cygwin distribution does it.  The sources are
distributed separately.

If you are actually distributing the cygwin DLL, then you need to also
distribute the sources to the DLL as well.  Again, the source code can
be in a different package.

So, in the above, you'd presumably have to provide the sources for
ascom.dll, skeleton.dll, scope_client.dll, tests.exe, and cygwin1.dll.
The easiest way to provide the sources to the cygwin DLL is just to use
the cygwin source archives as can be downloaded from the cygwin
setup.exe program.

OTOH, we usually advise against people distributing the DLL since it
will cause problems if your archive is extracted into an existing cygwin
installation.  It's usually better to just point people to the cygwin
web site and have them install what is needed*.  In that scenario, you
wouldn't have to provide the sources for the cygwin DLL but you would
need to provide sources for everyting else.

>Can someone please advise me or tell me where to find out?
>
>I'd be happy to replace the need for this dll with static linking, 
>assuming that's even *possible* under cygwin. If it is, a pointer would

>be appreciated.

Static linking wouldn't buy you anything.  You'd still need to provide
the source code.

The GPL FAQ is here:  http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html .  You
might want to familiarize yourself with it.

cgf

*Yes, I understand that this may install more than what you want but you
still have to take the problem of existing cygwin configurations into
account no matter what you do.