Release 0.93 and GPLv2 compliance

[pavel]

Hi,

Yesterday, I've learned via this RedPitaya issue that the source code for the release 0.93 of the RedPitaya ecosystem is not open.

Looking at the GPLv2 license of the Linux kernel that the RedPitaya ecosystem is based on, I see the following clauses:

b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in
whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any
part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third
parties under the terms of this License.

a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections
1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange;

It looks like the release 0.93 of the RedPitaya ecosystem is not compliant with the GPLv2 license of the Linux kernel.

Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

Cheers,

Pavel

[noah]

Hi Pavel

Thanks for pointing this out to the community. I totally agree with you that the release 0.93 IS NOT GPLv2 COMPLIANT. And therefore may not be declared as 'Free' software as it is stated in the license:

When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for
this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it
if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it
in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.

Further I can't find any license information on the github repository nor on the official website. The only sign that speaks for open source is the Logo and the slogan. The close-sourced hardware may also be a sign for the pure marketing perspective usage of the open source philosophy.

Please correct me if i'm wrong but IMHO I think all the backers and supporters of the project were cheated.

Cheers, Noah

[redpitaya]

Hi,

The GPL-2.0+ licensed Linux kernel, U-Boot and Buildroot were not modified between releases 0.92 and 0.93. This are basic OS components, so they are and will be published with full sources and build scripts.
Regarding open source software used by Red Pitaya applications, it is BSD or similarly licensed. We will publish any patches we applied.
All FPGA code will remain open source under the BSD license.

Best, Red Pitaya

[pavel]

The GPL-2.0+ licensed Linux kernel, U-Boot and Buildroot were not modified between releases 0.92 and 0.93.

Thanks for the explanation, it's more clear now.

All FPGA code will remain open source under the BSD license.

According to this RedPitaya issue, the FPGA code for the release 0.93 is not open source.

Could you provide an estimate of when it will become open?

[sobomax]

Hey pavel, edgo, you've guys some amazing work on various parts, how about we just fork off the project from 0.92 and make it fully self-contained, so you can run "make image" and get fully working SD card image with all the latest software on it just from sources?

-Max

[redpitaya]

Hi,
We are still working on the code and let say next release
will be in worst case in one month or two.
Best, Red Pitaya

[pavel]

how about we just fork off the project from 0.92 and make it fully self-contained, so you can run "make image" and get fully working SD card image with all the latest software on it just from sources?

I'm not sure that I'd be interested to fork and then to maintain the Red Pitaya ecosystem in its current state.

I'd be more interested in contributing to (re)writing new ecosystem based on

• IP core based design flow for the FPGA code
• QT5 for both the server code (QtWebSockets) running on the Red Pitaya board and the client code (QtWebSockets and QML) running on a remote computer