RE: [ECOS] TCP/IP and RTEMS

RE: [ECOS] TCP/IP and RTEMS

[John Mills]

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Title: RE: [ECOS] TCP/IP and RTEMS





From: Jim Belton:
JB- I have a concern regarding the RTEMS use of GPL. 
JB- Have they applied this to their TCP/IP stack as 
JB- well?  It would seem to me they would have to. 
JB- GPL and the embedded world don't play especially 
JB- well together.


Having just contributed some confusion to the same thread on the RTEMS mail list, I refer you to:
http://www.oarcorp.com/rtems/license.html


  John Mills, Sr. Software Engineer
  TGA Technologies, Inc.
  100 Pinnacle Way, Suite 140
  Norcross, GA 30071-3633
  e-mail: jmills@tga.com
  Phone: 770-441-2100 ext.124 (voice)
         770-449-7740 (FAX)

Re: [ECOS] TCP/IP and RTEMS

[Jim Belton]

John:

> JB- I have a concern regarding the RTEMS use of GPL.
> JB- Have they applied this to their TCP/IP stack as
> JB- well?  It would seem to me they would have to.
> JB- GPL and the embedded world don't play especially
> JB- well together.
>
> Having just contributed some confusion to the same thread on the RTEMS
> mail list, I refer you to:
> http://www.oarcorp.com/rtems/license.html

Is RTEMS is shipped with the unmodified GPL, or do they add the "special
exception" in the text of the license they ship?  I'd like a legal
opinion on whether linking with RTEMS puts my code under GPL, because of
the way the RTEMS license is written.  The ECPL, on the other hand, is
very clear about the fact that it only applies to eCos, not to my code,
even if they are linked together.

BTW, I'm not GPL/GNU bashing here.  When someone wants to free (as in
speech) a piece of software, then GPL is the best way I've seen to do
it.  But applying the GPL also needs to be a matter of free choice,
IMNSHO.

Regards - Jim.

RE: [ECOS] TCP/IP and RTEMS

[John Mills]

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Title: RE: [ECOS] TCP/IP and RTEMS





Jim -


JB- Is RTEMS is shipped with the unmodified GPL, or do 
JB- they add the "special exception" in the text of the  
JB- license they ship?  I'd like a legal opinion on 
JB- whether linking with RTEMS puts my code under GPL, 
JB- because of the way the RTEMS license is written.


I can't give you legal advice or interpretations. You may wish to download RTEMS sources and check their license wording first-hand. My non-expert understanding is that both groups are attempting to achieve much the same thing. You may also wish to ask Dr. Sherrill of OAR Corp. [ mailto:joel.sherrill@OARcorp.com ], and naturally to seek legal advice as to the nuances of each license.

Regards -


  John Mills, Sr. Software Engineer
  TGA Technologies, Inc.
  100 Pinnacle Way, Suite 140
  Norcross, GA 30071-3633
  e-mail: jmills@tga.com
  Phone: 770-441-2100 ext.124 (voice)
         770-449-7740 (FAX)

[ECOS] TCP/IP and RTEMS

[Jim Belton]

Tristan wrote:

> I have ported the TCP/IP stack of RTEMS (which is a port from FreeBSD)
to
> eCos.  I have at least do a tcp/ip echo.

Thanks, Tristan.  Do you intend to continue the port?  Is it available
on FTP?

I have a concern regarding the RTEMS use of GPL.  Have they applied this
to their TCP/IP stack as well?  It would seem to me they would have to.
GPL and the embedded world don't play especially well together.  The
choice of the RTEMS stack (rather than going back to NetBSD) may limit
the range of applications in which it could be used.

Regards - Jim.