Re: Possible GPL Violation of Linux in Amstrad's E3 Videophone.

Jon Masters
2004-10-01T16:26:30Z

On Fri, 01 Oct 2004 16:59:41 +0100, Ralph Corderoy
<ralph@inputplus.co.uk> wrote:

> Alan Cox wrote:
> > Actually by the time this made the kernel list an answer turned up
> > from Amstrad - the URL for the GPL source, and an offer valid for
> > three years to supply it at cost is in the welcome email their units
> > start up with.

The E3 uses Montavista Linux and as far as I am aware they made little
or no changes to that for the product. Most of the perceived problem
here is, I think, just misunderstanding.

It also seems you're overly keen for Amstrad to be in the wrong here,
but the reality is that Alan Sugar (or his son/relative in charge of
various PR activities) is not going to have these answers readily
available for you. Someone will know and provide you with the
information that you are after - but it's worth treating the lack of
informtation as a small oversight.

While the E3 is quoted as not using any other "Open Source" software,
it does use Monta's Linux. I would suggest that you contact the folks
at Montavista's UK offices in Bracknell and ask them about obtaining a
link to the source.mvista.com and similar websites where you can
obtain a copy of the sources used in their distribution. They are
friendly people.

> And the written offer is in the welcome email *now* but probably wasn't
> until I hassled them.

They probably overlooked it. Yes that's not great - but I wouldn't get
too worked up over it. The reality is that you asked for a copy of the
source and eventually it seems that you will get what you want. It
would be nice if this process were entirely seemless but it's
certainly a lot better than many examples I've seen elsewhere.

> It also doesn't meet 3(b) so they're not complying.

Technically I think you might be correct there - but I'd give them the
benefit of the doubt and assume they just need to read the license
over and make a change to some packaging.

I'm planning to do a review of the E3 so I'll be sure to look in to
these issues then.

Cheers,

Jon.