Commercial use of cygwin

Commercial use of cygwin

[Antonio Sidoti]

Hello,

I was looking into using Cygwin for commercial use, but I couldn't really
understand if that was ok or not.

From here <https://cygwin.com/licensing.html> and here
<https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/cygwin-library-now-available-under-gnu-lesser-general-public-license>,
it seems like the basic cygwin library is available under LGPL, so ok to be
redistributed commercially if linked dynamically.

When I looked for all the different dlls though, I couldn't really find all
the licenses. I looked at /usr/share/doc folder but could not find the
licenses for several packages
+cygblas-0.dll
+cyggfortran-4.dll
+cyggomp-1.dll
+cyglapack-0.dll
+cygncursesw-10.dll
+cygquadmath-0.dll
+cygreadline7.dll

Is there any way you could provide some guidance on the topic? Is it
something you could help with?
(Of course in exchange of compensation)

Thanks for your help.
Antonio

Re: Commercial use of cygwin

[Marco Atzeri]

On 12.11.2020 09:42, Antonio Sidoti via Cygwin wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I was looking into using Cygwin for commercial use, but I couldn't really
> understand if that was ok or not.
> 
>  From here <https://cygwin.com/licensing.html> and here
> <https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/cygwin-library-now-available-under-gnu-lesser-general-public-license>,
> it seems like the basic cygwin library is available under LGPL, so ok to be
> redistributed commercially if linked dynamically.
> 
> When I looked for all the different dlls though, I couldn't really find all
> the licenses. I looked at /usr/share/doc folder but could not find the
> licenses for several packages
> +cygblas-0.dll
> +cyggfortran-4.dll
> +cyggomp-1.dll
> +cyglapack-0.dll
> +cygncursesw-10.dll
> +cygquadmath-0.dll
> +cygreadline7.dll
> 
> Is there any way you could provide some guidance on the topic? Is it
> something you could help with?
> (Of course in exchange of compensation)
> 
> Thanks for your help.
> Antonio
> --

in general there is no restriction on usage.
License are located on:

for lapack and Blas:
$ cygcheck -l liblapack-devel
/usr/share/doc/Cygwin/lapack.README
/usr/share/doc/lapack/LICENSE
/usr/share/doc/lapack/README.md

for gcc/fortran and gomp

$ cygcheck -l gcc-core | grep COPYING
/usr/share/doc/gcc/COPYING
/usr/share/doc/gcc/COPYING.LIB

for ncurses

$ cygcheck -l ncurses | grep COPYING
/usr/share/doc/ncurses/COPYING

there are same restrictions if you plan to incorporate
the tools in your own software tif you are redistributing it.
(copy of source must also be distributed)


Regards
Marco

Re: Commercial use of cygwin

[L A Walsh]

On 2020/11/12 02:42, Marco Atzeri via Cygwin copied the whole note:
> On 12.11.2020 09:42, Antonio Sidoti via Cygwin wrote:
> I was looking into using Cygwin for commercial use...
>   
  [27 lines of duplicate text]
>
> in general there is no restriction on usage.
> Marco
If you are going to bottom post, please trim your quotes.
If you need to quote the original for context, only quote
what is needed for context. In a threaded
reader, your reply is placed under the original poster's
email, where, if a reader is interested, it was just read.
Duplicating the entire note isn't necessary nor, I'd bet,
really wanted, by most.

Re: Commercial use of cygwin

[Marco Atzeri]

On 14.11.2020 08:22, L A Walsh wrote:
> On 2020/11/12 02:42, Marco Atzeri via Cygwin copied the whole note:
>> On 12.11.2020 09:42, Antonio Sidoti via Cygwin wrote:
>> I was looking into using Cygwin for commercial use...
>   [27 lines of duplicate text]
>>
>> in general there is no restriction on usage.
>> Marco
> If you are going to bottom post, please trim your quotes.
> If you need to quote the original for context, only quote
> what is needed for context. In a threaded
> reader, your reply is placed under the original poster's
> email, where, if a reader is interested, it was just read.
> Duplicating the entire note isn't necessary nor, I'd bet,
> really wanted, by most.
> 

Hi Linda,
usually I agree, but he put down a specific list of DLL's
and I replied with a specific list of License.

27 lines are not a lot, in my experience.
There were much worst example than my mail to complain
about on this mailing list.

Cheers
Marco

Re: Commercial use of cygwin

[Hamish McIntyre-Bhatty]

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On 14/11/2020 07:50, Marco Atzeri via Cygwin wrote:
> On 14.11.2020 08:22, L A Walsh wrote:
>> On 2020/11/12 02:42, Marco Atzeri via Cygwin copied the whole note:
>>> On 12.11.2020 09:42, Antonio Sidoti via Cygwin wrote:
>>> I was looking into using Cygwin for commercial use...
>>   [27 lines of duplicate text]
>>>
>>> in general there is no restriction on usage.
>>> Marco
>> If you are going to bottom post, please trim your quotes.
>> If you need to quote the original for context, only quote
>> what is needed for context. In a threaded
>> reader, your reply is placed under the original poster's
>> email, where, if a reader is interested, it was just read.
>> Duplicating the entire note isn't necessary nor, I'd bet,
>> really wanted, by most.
>>
>
> Hi Linda,
> usually I agree, but he put down a specific list of DLL's
> and I replied with a specific list of License.
>
> 27 lines are not a lot, in my experience.
> There were much worst example than my mail to complain
> about on this mailing list.
>
> Cheers
> Marco

Do the points made here also apply to commercial but open-source use of
Cygwin?

For extra context, I have an application with bundles parts of Cygwin
and libraries built against Cygwin. None of the source or binaries is
modified.

I know I at least have to state which packages are included in the
bundle and provide links to the source for those, but I am not sure if
it is required that I eg provide a downloadable compressed folder with
complete source for everything.

Can anyone give me some advice? The work everyone does for Cygwin is
valuable and I certainly don't intend to claim any of it is mine.

Hamish


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Re: Commercial use of cygwin

[Adam Dinwoodie]

On Sat, 12 Dec 2020 at 17:27, Hamish McIntyre-Bhatty wrote:
> Do the points made here also apply to commercial but open-source use of
> Cygwin?
>
> For extra context, I have an application with bundles parts of Cygwin
> and libraries built against Cygwin. None of the source or binaries is
> modified.
>
> I know I at least have to state which packages are included in the
> bundle and provide links to the source for those, but I am not sure if
> it is required that I eg provide a downloadable compressed folder with
> complete source for everything.
>
> Can anyone give me some advice? The work everyone does for Cygwin is
> valuable and I certainly don't intend to claim any of it is mine.

The discussion in this thread so far, as best I can tell, amounts to
"you need to comply with the license agreements in the packages you
distribute". That is definitely the case for commercial open-source
projects as much as it is for anything else.

In my opinion, the safest way to make sure you're compliant is to
provide all the source code for all the binaries you're distributing
in the same way you make those binaries available; if you're shipping
software on CD, ship the source code on the same CD; if you're
shipping software by providing a download link, provide a download
link nearby to the source code. In particular, it's not sufficient to
merely point to the Cygwin website or even Cygwin mirrors, as those
could disappear while you're still legally obliged to provide source
code for at least anything with a GPL/LGPL/&c license.

That all being said, I am not a lawyer, and I have no particular
authority in the Cygwin project to assert what is and isn't
permissible. Particularly for any commercial use, I would want
professional legal advice on anything I wasn't confident about.

HTH

Adam

Re: Commercial use of cygwin

[Hamish McIntyre-Bhatty]

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On 12/12/2020 18:44, Adam Dinwoodie wrote:
> On Sat, 12 Dec 2020 at 17:27, Hamish McIntyre-Bhatty wrote:
>> Do the points made here also apply to commercial but open-source use of
>> Cygwin?
>>
>> For extra context, I have an application with bundles parts of Cygwin
>> and libraries built against Cygwin. None of the source or binaries is
>> modified.
>>
>> I know I at least have to state which packages are included in the
>> bundle and provide links to the source for those, but I am not sure if
>> it is required that I eg provide a downloadable compressed folder with
>> complete source for everything.
>>
>> Can anyone give me some advice? The work everyone does for Cygwin is
>> valuable and I certainly don't intend to claim any of it is mine.
> The discussion in this thread so far, as best I can tell, amounts to
> "you need to comply with the license agreements in the packages you
> distribute". That is definitely the case for commercial open-source
> projects as much as it is for anything else.
>
> In my opinion, the safest way to make sure you're compliant is to
> provide all the source code for all the binaries you're distributing
> in the same way you make those binaries available; if you're shipping
> software on CD, ship the source code on the same CD; if you're
> shipping software by providing a download link, provide a download
> link nearby to the source code. In particular, it's not sufficient to
> merely point to the Cygwin website or even Cygwin mirrors, as those
> could disappear while you're still legally obliged to provide source
> code for at least anything with a GPL/LGPL/&c license.
>
> That all being said, I am not a lawyer, and I have no particular
> authority in the Cygwin project to assert what is and isn't
> permissible. Particularly for any commercial use, I would want
> professional legal advice on anything I wasn't confident about.
>
> HTH
>
> Adam

Thanks, that's to conclusion I came to for GPL'd code as well, just
wanted another opinion.

Hamish


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