Re: [lwip-users] License compliance without customer confusion

[Jonathan Larmour]

Timmy Brolin wrote:
> I have been thinking about how a manufacturer of a embedded system which
> includes the lwip stack can comply with the BSD-license without
> confusing its customers.
> The license is written assuming distribution in software form, binary or
> source code. It is not really written with distribution as part of a
> piece of hardware in mind.
> The first two conditions of the license are not valid for a embedded
> system since further distribution is not really possible,

Well, the first doesn't apply as that's for source form only. But the
second condition does - it is being distributed in binary form.

> and I suspect
> that including them in a manual for the device may and will only serve
> to confuse the customer.

It's true that some hardware does not allow easy access or update to stored
binary program images in flash etc. However the license stipulation
remains, and the manual is the right place to document the license.
Acknowledging the authors of the code is at the very least polite whatever
the licence! Usually it ends up as one of the teeny bits of small print at
the back of the manual that virtually no-one reads, but there you go.

> Then there is the disclaimer. It states that there are no warranties
> whatsoever. But the manufacturer of the embedded system will of course
> provide warranties covering the proper function of the entire device,
> including the lwip software.

Indeed. The "author" is not referring to the manufacturer here.

> Including the disclaimer in the manual will give the customer
> contradicting information, and may make the customer question the
> quality and warranties of the device.

Usually you just precede the licence information with something like:

"This product contains the lightweight IP (lwIP) networking stack, which
has been incorporated under the following license:"

You will of course be making your own warranty more prominent than this in
any case.

> I assume several people on this mailing list are in fact producing
> embedded systems containing lwip code. How do you comply with the
> license without confusing your customers?

That's what smallprint is for. Direct customers' attention to what matters,
and put the items they need to be informed about but aren't as equally
important in the smallprint.

Jifl
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