[Buildroot] [Question] Is it ok to change Buildroot for own needs?

[Buildroot] [Question] Is it ok to change Buildroot for own needs?

[Frank Ihle]

Hi everyone,

I'm not a Pro, when it comes to the license of someone's other Software. Basically I'd like to add a new menu that includes some of the Target packages. Is it ok for "Buildroot" if i change it like this ?

Kind Regards

Frank

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[Buildroot] [Question] Is it ok to change Buildroot for own needs?

[Mike Zick]

On Fri, 09 May 2014 09:45:59 +0200
"Frank Ihle" <frank.ihle@hs-offenburg.de> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
> 
> I'm not a Pro, when it comes to the license of someone's other
> Software. Basically I'd like to add a new menu that includes some of
> the Target packages. Is it ok for "Buildroot" if i change it like
> this ?
> 

Yes.

And if you intend to submit your changes to the Buildroot project, the
best way.

If you intend to keep your changes private (because they are
proprietary or some other reason) -
Then you best choice is to put them in the BR2_EXTERNAL tree.

That leaves the project tree un-modified (easier to get support for
any problems with that part) and your "private" additions in the
BR2_EXTERNAL sub-tree of your project.

Mike
> Kind Regards
> 
> Frank
> 

[Buildroot] [Question] Is it ok to change Buildroot for own needs?

[Arnout Vandecappelle]

On 09/05/14 09:45, Frank Ihle wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I'm not a Pro, when it comes to the license of someone's other Software.
> Basically I'd like to add a new menu that includes some of the Target packages.
> Is it ok for "Buildroot" if i change it like this ?

 Buildroot is under the GPL license. That means you are allowed to modify it in
any way that you want. However, if you redistribute (= give it to someone else
in any way) buildroot, you have to:
* also give the source (of buildroot, not necessarily of the packages;
* indicate that you've modified buildroot.

 Redistributing the generated images doesn't count as redistributing buildroot
(at least we don't think it does). However, if the generated image contains any
GPL software, e.g. busybox, then *that* license also requires you to provide the
source of busybox, as well as any scripts required to build it. We think that
buildroot is such a script. In other words, when you redistribute the images and
it contains GPL software, we think that you have to provide your modified source
of buildroot as well.

 Note that I'm not a lawyer and none of this has a precedent in court AFAIK.

 Regards,
 Arnout

-- 
Arnout Vandecappelle                          arnout at mind be
Senior Embedded Software Architect            +32-16-286500
Essensium/Mind                                http://www.mind.be
G.Geenslaan 9, 3001 Leuven, Belgium           BE 872 984 063 RPR Leuven
LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/arnoutvandecappelle
GPG fingerprint:  7CB5 E4CC 6C2E EFD4 6E3D A754 F963 ECAB 2450 2F1F

[Buildroot] [Question] Is it ok to change Buildroot for own needs?

[Frank Ihle]

Hello Arnout,

I already heared about the struggle with the combination of GPL and "source format". Your answer brought a little bit of light into the situation, thanks.

Kind Regards

Frank

>>> Arnout Vandecappelle <arnout@mind.be> 09.05.14 22.48 Uhr >>>
On 09/05/14 09:45, Frank Ihle wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I'm not a Pro, when it comes to the license of someone's other Software.
> Basically I'd like to add a new menu that includes some of the Target packages.
> Is it ok for "Buildroot" if i change it like this ?

 Buildroot is under the GPL license. That means you are allowed to modify it in
any way that you want. However, if you redistribute (= give it to someone else
in any way) buildroot, you have to:
* also give the source (of buildroot, not necessarily of the packages;
* indicate that you've modified buildroot.

 Redistributing the generated images doesn't count as redistributing buildroot
(at least we don't think it does). However, if the generated image contains any
GPL software, e.g. busybox, then *that* license also requires you to provide the
source of busybox, as well as any scripts required to build it. We think that
buildroot is such a script. In other words, when you redistribute the images and
it contains GPL software, we think that you have to provide your modified source
of buildroot as well.

 Note that I'm not a lawyer and none of this has a precedent in court AFAIK.

 Regards,
 Arnout

-- 
Arnout Vandecappelle                          arnout at mind be
Senior Embedded Software Architect            +32-16-286500
Essensium/Mind                                http://www.mind.be
G.Geenslaan 9, 3001 Leuven, Belgium           BE 872 984 063 RPR Leuven
LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/arnoutvandecappelle
GPG fingerprint:  7CB5 E4CC 6C2E EFD4 6E3D A754 F963 ECAB 2450 2F1F


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