Support for new SDR devices

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Harald Welte laforge at gnumonks.org
Fri Sep 11 15:13:32 UTC 2020


Hi Xaver,

[posting this on the mailing list, as it may be of interest to others]

On Fri, Sep 11, 2020 at 04:55:35PM +0200, Xaver Zu wrote:
> This is a dynamic linking.

this is true, but the nature of the linking does not matter in terms of
what creates the derivative work.

> Is this a problem even if I do not distribute the resulting binary? 

The AGPL (contrary to the GPL) conditions start when users remotely interact
with your software (See Section 13 of AGPLv3).  This means even operating
a network with remote users already means you need to provide the complete
and corresponding source code to the entire work under AGPLv3, which is
impossible if you have a proprietary dependency.

So if you build the software, and you make sure that nobody but yourself
every uses the resulting GSM network, you are fine. But as soon as any
third party uses it, you would be putting yourself in the impossible position
to providing the source code to a proprietary library.

> I can simply add a warning to the file that the compiled program cannot be distributed.

One might consider this a "further restriction" which by itself is a
violation of AGPLv3:

	All other non-permissive additional terms are considered "further
	restrictions" within the meaning of section 10. [...] You may not impose
	any further restrictions on the exercise of the rights granted or
	affirmed under this License.

But even beyond that: How many users do you think willread that warning
in the source code vs. how many will simply run it (and possibly allow
others to register).  Even if you added a message to start-up, and to
the user manual, I still would think many people don't look at that.

I don't think we should distribute something that "tricks" people into
committing license violations or putting them in an impossible position,
legally speaking.

> Is it a violation that someone assembles and uses it on their own machine?

It is not a violation as long as they are they only person using the
resulting GSM network (or using its VTY or its TRXC/TRXD interface).

I would compare distributing source code like that to shipping a product
that is almost impossible to use safely, but very easy to use in a
[legally] unsafe way.

> Is it a violation to even have sources and build instructions for it?

Maybe not, but see above, I don't want to make it too easy for people to
shoot themselves into their foot.

> Can we agree to leave it as a starting point until someone will have the
> time to do it using IPC?

I'm very sorry (really), but we will not merge this code to the
mainline osmo-trx code base on osmocom.org.

Kind regards,
	Harald

-- 
- Harald Welte <laforge at gnumonks.org>           http://laforge.gnumonks.org/
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