Mailing-List: contact cygwin-help AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com; run by ezmlm Sender: cygwin-owner AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com Delivered-To: mailing list cygwin AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com From: gernot AT cse DOT unsw DOT edu DOT au Sender: gernot AT zuse DOT disy DOT cse DOT unsw DOT EDU DOT AU To: cygwin AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1999 18:23:01 +1100 Message-Id: <990315072308.3841@cse.unsw.edu.au> Subject: Cygwin license Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Reply-to: G DOT Heiser AT unsw DOT edu DOT au Hi, I'm a professor at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia and am teaching a course on operating systems. For our assignments we use a teaching operating system called Topsy from ETH Zurich, which runs on the MIPS architecture. We use the SimOS system from Stanford to run Topsy on our various Unix platforms. As many of our students own wintel systems we would like to make SimOS/Topsy available for them to use when working at home on assignments. We are confident that we can port SimOS to wintel, provided we can link against the Cygwin API library. This is where we have a licensing problem. Your license requires all code to be linked against your library to be GPLed. According to http://sourceware.cygnus.com/cygwin/licensing.html: The Cygwin API library found in the winsup subdirectory of the source code is also covered by the GNU GPL. By default, all executables link against this library (and in the process include GPL'd Cygwin glue code). This means that unless you modify the tools so that compiled executables do not make use of the Cygwin library, your compiled programs will also have to be free software distributed under the GPL with source code available to all. The SimOS source is available under a license from Stanford University (attached below). It differs from the GPL in that: - it does not require making code available in source form, - it does not allow commercial use. We would be happy to be bound by the GPL requirement of making everything we distribute as binaries available in source form. In fact, we always planned to release our ports in source on the web. However, we can, of course, not relax Stanford's restrictions on commercial use without their agreement (which seems unlikely). Hence we fear that we might be technically in breach of your license if we link SimOS against your library, even though we feel that we would be adhering to the spirit of it. We would appreciate if you could clarify this licensing issue for us, and hope that we will be able to use the Cygwin API library as outlined above. Yours sincerely, Gernot Heiser ------------------------------------------------------------------------ License Agreement from Stanford University ------------------------------------------ 1. Hereafter, "SimOS" refers to the SimOS machine simulation environment and all associated source and documentation materials. This is a legal agreement between you, RECIPIENT, and STANFORD UNIVERSITY. By accepting, receiving and using SimOS, you are agreeing to be bound by the terms of this Agreement. If you do not agree to the terms of this Agreement, promptly return SimOS to STANFORD. 2. STANFORD grants to RECIPIENT a royalty-free, nonexclusive, nontransferable, and non-commerical license to use SimOS furnished hereunder, upon the terms and conditions set out below. 3. RECIPIENT acknowledges that SimOS is a research tool still in the development stage and that they are being supplied "as is," without any accompanying services or improvements from STANFORD. 4. STANFORD MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. By way of example, but not limitation, STANFORD MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT THE USE OF THE LICENSED SOFTWARE COMPONENTS OR DOCUMENTATION WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS OR OTHER RIGHTS. STANFORD shall not be held liable for any liability nor for any direct, indirect or consequential damages with respect to any claim by RECIPIENT or any third party on account of or arising from this Agreement or use of SimOS. -- Gernot Heiser ,--_|\ School of Computer Sci. & Engin. Phone: +61 2 9385 5156 / \ The University of NSW Fax: +61 2 9385 5995 \_,--._* Sydney, Australia 2052 E-mail: G DOT Heiser AT unsw DOT edu DOT au v http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~gernot PGP fingerprint: 94 1E B8 28 25 FD 7C 94 20 10 92 E5 0B FF 39 8F -- Want to unsubscribe from this list? Send a message to cygwin-unsubscribe AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com