[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-13 Thread David Lochrin
On Wednesday 11 June 2008 09:55, Alessandro Zummo wrote: > I was talking about a possible proprietary sane backend > scenario: > > GPL backend + proprietary decoding libs. A manufacturer would choose > compatible terms for this case and it is not forbidden by the GPL. I think this thread is

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-11 Thread Alessandro Zummo
On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:55:14 +0900 Olaf Meeuwissen wrote: > > GPL backend + proprietary decoding libs. A manufacturer would choose > > compatible terms for this case and it is not forbidden by the GPL. > > There are two possibilities here: > > 1) the non-free decoding libs are licensed under

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-11 Thread Olaf Meeuwissen
Alessandro Zummo writes: > On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:49:04 +0900 > Olaf Meeuwissen wrote: > >> > correct. >> >> No so. As per my reply to Johannes' mail: >> >> This depends on the respective license conditions of the free and >> non-free parts. If all of the conditions are not mutually exc

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-11 Thread Olaf Meeuwissen
Alessandro Zummo writes: > On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:00:38 +0200 (CEST) > Johannes Meixner wrote: > >> As far as I see, it seems to be allowed from the legal point >> of view to have free software that uses non-free libraries >> because they only say that the program won't be fully usable >> or not

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-11 Thread Olaf Meeuwissen
Johannes Meixner writes: > Hello, > > On Jun 6 16:40 Alessandro Zummo wrote (shortened): >> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#FSWithNFLibs > > As far as I see, it seems to be allowed from the legal point > of view to have free software that uses non-free libraries > because they only say t

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-11 Thread Alessandro Zummo
On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:49:04 +0900 Olaf Meeuwissen wrote: > > correct. > > No so. As per my reply to Johannes' mail: > > This depends on the respective license conditions of the free and > non-free parts. If all of the conditions are not mutually exclusive, > then there is no problem l

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-10 Thread kilg...@banach.math.auburn.edu
(Quote) > They even say: > --- > If the program is already written using the non-free library, > perhaps it is too late to change the decision. You may as well > release the program as it stands, rather than not release it. >

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-10 Thread Wang Mengqiang
ne-devel] Please give me some help to solve >;the license issues in using sane >; [snip] >;> >;> your politeness and enthusiasm impressed me deeply. very >;glad to exchange personal opinion. >;> Wang mengqiang >; >; >;Thank you very much for the reply. I am a

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-10 Thread Alessandro Zummo
On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:00:38 +0200 (CEST) Johannes Meixner wrote: > As far as I see, it seems to be allowed from the legal point > of view to have free software that uses non-free libraries > because they only say that the program won't be fully usable > or not usable at all in a free environment

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-10 Thread Johannes Meixner
Hello, On Jun 6 16:40 Alessandro Zummo wrote (shortened): > http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#FSWithNFLibs As far as I see, it seems to be allowed from the legal point of view to have free software that uses non-free libraries because they only say that the program won't be fully usable o

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-10 Thread Daniel Glöckner
Hello Wang Mengqiang, On 10 Jun 08 16:24, Wang Mengqiang wrote: > For example, you are building the high-way, as we are talking about writing drivers, a more obvious analogy comes to mind. Hardware producers build cars. But these days they don't tell you how to drive these cars and there are no

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-10 Thread Wang Mengqiang
Hello, >;-Original Message- >;From: Johannes Meixner [mailto:jsmeix at suse.de] >;Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 9:06 PM >;To: Olaf Meeuwissen >;Cc: Wang Mengqiang; sane-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org >;Subject: Re: [sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve ;the

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-10 Thread kilg...@banach.math.auburn.edu
On Tue, 10 Jun 2008, m. allan noah wrote: > On 6/10/08, Daniel Gl?ckner wrote: >> Hello Wang Mengqiang, >> >> >> On 10 Jun 08 16:24, Wang Mengqiang wrote: >> > For example, you are building the high-way, >> >> >> as we are talking about writing drivers, a more obvious analogy comes to >> mind

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-10 Thread m. allan noah
On 6/10/08, Daniel Gl?ckner wrote: > Hello Wang Mengqiang, > > > On 10 Jun 08 16:24, Wang Mengqiang wrote: > > For example, you are building the high-way, > > > as we are talking about writing drivers, a more obvious analogy comes to mind. > Hardware producers build cars. But these days they do

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-09 Thread Olaf Meeuwissen
"m. allan noah" writes: > On 6/8/08, Olaf Meeuwissen wrote: >> "m. allan noah" writes: >> >> > [snip] >> >> >> >> >> this means that the sane I/O facilities cannot be used. however >> >> it may be the cleanest thing. >> >> >> >> that's similar to the epkowa way, which uses sane io fac

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-09 Thread Olaf Meeuwissen
"m. allan noah" writes: > [snip] >> >> this means that the sane I/O facilities cannot be used. however >> it may be the cleanest thing. >> >> that's similar to the epkowa way, which uses sane io facilities >> iirc? > > well, if epkowa dynamically links and uses sanei, then it is not using

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-09 Thread Olaf Meeuwissen
"m. allan noah" writes: > [snip} > so, is our answer to Mengqiang that there are only four choices? > > 1. you can write an entirely free backend, and use code from SANE. > > 2. you can write a partly free backend, that runs the closed parts as > a separate process, and use code from SANE in the

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-09 Thread Olaf Meeuwissen
Johannes Meixner writes: > Hello, > > [snip] > On Jun 6 Olaf Meeuwissen wrote (shortened): >> If GPL'd code uses a non-compatible library via dlopen that's just as >> much a violation as linking to it directly. The code runs in the same >> process space. That makes the combined work a derivativ

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-08 Thread David Lochrin
On Sunday 08 June 2008 22:06, m. allan noah wrote: >>In relation to my previous post, if it's possible to accomodate >> manufacturers' sensitivities regarding proprietary code within the >> constraints of the GPL and overall SANE architecture (especially a major >> player such as Canon) the sta

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-08 Thread m. allan noah
On 6/8/08, Olaf Meeuwissen wrote: > "m. allan noah" writes: > > > [snip] > > >> > >> this means that the sane I/O facilities cannot be used. however > >> it may be the cleanest thing. > >> > >> that's similar to the epkowa way, which uses sane io facilities > >> iirc? > > > > well,

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-08 Thread David Lochrin
On Sunday 08 June 2008 04:18, Nicolas wrote: > A bit of clarification: > > Canon released a packaged frontend+backend named scangearmp. This > program works fine as a whole, independently from SANE, with a few pixma > models only. > > Among this package, there are some files named libsane-canon_mfp

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-08 Thread m. allan noah
On 6/6/08, Daniel Gl?ckner wrote: > On Fri, Jun 06, 2008 at 11:10:52AM -0400, m. allan noah wrote: > > 3. you can write a partly free backend, that dynamically links to the > > closed parts, provided that you place a license exception in the free > > part allowing said linking. you cannot use a

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-08 Thread m. allan noah
On 6/8/08, kilgota at banach.math.auburn.edu wrote: > > And here we see the problem, in a nutshell. My own course is quite similar > to Allan's, though I do my work for another project. > > I think that what is going to have to happen, ultimately, is that some of > these hardware manufacturers a

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-08 Thread kilg...@banach.math.auburn.edu
On Sun, 8 Jun 2008, m. allan noah wrote: > On 6/8/08, kilgota at banach.math.auburn.edu > wrote: [...] > Canon is a very big company, where one hand may not know what another > hand is doing. I personally have spent the last couple of years > negotiating an NDA with Canon USA to get docs for

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-08 Thread kilg...@banach.math.auburn.edu
And here we see the problem, in a nutshell. My own course is quite similar to Allan's, though I do my work for another project. I think that what is going to have to happen, ultimately, is that some of these hardware manufacturers are going to see if they can find a competitive advantage by co

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-08 Thread m. allan noah
On 6/8/08, David Lochrin wrote: > On Sunday 08 June 2008 22:06, m. allan noah wrote: > >>In relation to my previous post, if it's possible to accomodate > >> manufacturers' sensitivities regarding proprietary code within the > >> constraints of the GPL and overall SANE architecture (especia

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-08 Thread m. allan noah
On 6/8/08, David Lochrin wrote: > On Sunday 08 June 2008 04:18, Nicolas wrote: > > A bit of clarification: > > > > Canon released a packaged frontend+backend named scangearmp. This > > program works fine as a whole, independently from SANE, with a few pixma > > models only. > > > > Among th

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-07 Thread Nicolas
> On Thursday 05 June 2008 23:55, Daniel Gl?ckner wrote: > > Last year Canon released Linux drivers for the MP scanners that require a > > closed source module. We have never heard of anyone successfully using this > > driver. On the other hand there is the open source pixma driver that is > > act

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-07 Thread David Lochrin
Hello, On Thursday 05 June 2008 23:55, Daniel Gl?ckner wrote: > Last year Canon released Linux drivers for the MP scanners that require a > closed source module. We have never heard of anyone successfully using this > driver. On the other hand there is the open source pixma driver that is > active

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread Daniel Glöckner
On Fri, Jun 06, 2008 at 11:10:52AM -0400, m. allan noah wrote: > 3. you can write a partly free backend, that dynamically links to the > closed parts, provided that you place a license exception in the free > part allowing said linking. you cannot use any code from SANE, other > than sane.h and the

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread Alessandro Zummo
On Fri, 6 Jun 2008 11:10:52 -0400 "m. allan noah" wrote: > yes- this seems reasonable, however, this 'program' cannot be derived > from existing GPL'd software that does not already have this added > permission, because that would change the original program's license > without permission of the

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread Wang Mengqiang
From: kilgota at banach.math.auburn.edu >;[mailto:kilgota at banach.math.auburn.edu] >;Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 9:00 AM >;To: Alessandro Zummo >;Cc: Wang Mengqiang; SPD-GW; sane-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org >;Subject: Re: [sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve >;the license

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread Alessandro Zummo
On Fri, 6 Jun 2008 16:36:39 +0200 Alessandro Zummo wrote: > On Fri, 6 Jun 2008 10:26:04 -0400 > "m. allan noah" wrote: > > > > > no, the GPL is all about derivative works and combining code, it makes > > no difference the direction: > > You are probably right, the closest entry in the faq th

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread Alessandro Zummo
On Fri, 6 Jun 2008 10:26:04 -0400 "m. allan noah" wrote: > > no, the GPL is all about derivative works and combining code, it makes > no difference the direction: You are probably right, the closest entry in the faq that describes this situation seems to be http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-fa

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread Alessandro Zummo
On Fri, 6 Jun 2008 09:54:13 -0400 "m. allan noah" > gpl faq is pretty clear on this one: > > If the modules are included in the same executable file, they are > definitely combined in one program. If modules are designed to run > linked together in a shared address space, that almost surely mean

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread Alessandro Zummo
On Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:24:25 +0900 Olaf Meeuwissen wrote: > > If GPL'd code uses a non-compatible library via dlopen that's just as > much a violation as linking to it directly. The code runs in the same > process space. That makes the combined work a derivative, so, all the > terms of the GPL

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread Johannes Meixner
Hello, On 5 Jun Wang Mengqiang wrote (shortened): > we plan to use several special modules which do not contain > any open source code from sane or other party, because they > contain some tecnology that we do not want to open. > So, that is, our backend is composed of two parts, > one part is o

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread m. allan noah
On 6/6/08, Alessandro Zummo wrote: > On Fri, 6 Jun 2008 11:10:52 -0400 > > "m. allan noah" wrote: > > > > yes- this seems reasonable, however, this 'program' cannot be derived > > from existing GPL'd software that does not already have this added > > permission, because that would change the or

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread m. allan noah
On 6/6/08, Alessandro Zummo wrote: > On Fri, 6 Jun 2008 16:36:39 +0200 > > Alessandro Zummo wrote: > > > > On Fri, 6 Jun 2008 10:26:04 -0400 > > "m. allan noah" wrote: > > > > > > > > no, the GPL is all about derivative works and combining code, it makes > > > no difference the direction: >

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread Johannes Meixner
Hello, On Jun 5 11:30 m. allan noah wrote (shortened): > Sane is not here to provide sanei for proprietary backends to steal. Many thanks! Now it is clear for me! Kind Regards Johannes Meixner -- SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Maxfeldstrasse 5, 90409 Nuernberg, Germany AG Nuernberg, HRB 16746, GF:

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread m. allan noah
On 6/6/08, Alessandro Zummo wrote: > On Fri, 6 Jun 2008 09:54:13 -0400 > "m. allan noah" > > > > gpl faq is pretty clear on this one: > > > > If the modules are included in the same executable file, they are > > definitely combined in one program. If modules are designed to run > > linked t

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread m. allan noah
On 6/6/08, Alessandro Zummo wrote: > On Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:24:25 +0900 > > Olaf Meeuwissen wrote: > > > > > If GPL'd code uses a non-compatible library via dlopen that's just as > > much a violation as linking to it directly. The code runs in the same > > process space. That makes the combi

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread kilg...@banach.math.auburn.edu
On Fri, 6 Jun 2008, Wang Mengqiang wrote: > Theodore Kilgore, > > Thank you for your ardent reply. > > I feel your earnest expectation to improve the communication with hardware > manufacture. But, very sorry, I am afraid I have no ability to take this > responsibility. > > Thank you sharing t

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread Olaf Meeuwissen
"m. allan noah" writes: > On Thu, Jun 5, 2008 at 3:49 AM, Johannes Meixner wrote: >> >> Hello, >> >> On Jun 4 21:02 m. allan noah wrote (shortened): >>> >>> SANE is GPL, with an added exception to allow proprietary front-end >>> programs to link against it. What you are suggesting is the opposit

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-06 Thread Olaf Meeuwissen
Johannes Meixner writes: > I have another question: > > Assume because of whatever reason a scanner manufacturer > cannot make a free backend (e.g. because of third-party > license stuff, or just because the upper management at the > manufacturer is full of fear that another manufacturer might >

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-05 Thread kilg...@banach.math.auburn.edu
Wang Mengqiang, I am not one of the regular SANE developers, but I am quite active in another, similar project, Gphoto, which supports digital still cameras. I find this thread interesting because it raises issues which affect us all. I hope very much that the SANE developers will not mind if

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-05 Thread Alessandro Zummo
On Thu, 5 Jun 2008 13:02:08 +0800 "Wang Mengqiang" wrote: > Thank you for your reply and truth. > > From your reply, it seems there is no way to use other modules, for example, > if we buy some modules from other company without source code, how to deal > with it? Would you please give me som

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-05 Thread Johannes Meixner
Hello, On Jun 5 15:55 Daniel Gl?ckner wrote (shortened): > It may sound naive, but usually a scanner driver just needs to write some > registers and accept the incoming image data. > I don't see what needs to be hidden in that process. ... > Maybe it is possible to make your driver compile with a

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-05 Thread Daniel Glöckner
Hello, On 5 Jun 08 08:28, Wang Mengqiang wrote: > 1) In the development, we plan to use several special modules which do not > contain any open source code from sane or other party, because they contain > some tecnology that we do not want to open. May I ask what functionality is contained in

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-05 Thread Wang Mengqiang
Thank you for your reply and truth.

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-05 Thread m. allan noah
On Thu, Jun 5, 2008 at 3:49 AM, Johannes Meixner wrote: > > Hello, > > On Jun 4 21:02 m. allan noah wrote (shortened): >> >> SANE is GPL, with an added exception to allow proprietary front-end >> programs to link against it. What you are suggesting is the opposite- >> you wish to have a free 'midd

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-05 Thread Johannes Meixner
Hello, On Jun 4 21:02 m. allan noah wrote (shortened): > SANE is GPL, with an added exception to allow proprietary front-end > programs to link against it. What you are suggesting is the opposite- > you wish to have a free 'middleware' layer, which loads closed > backends to do that actual work?

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-05 Thread Wang Mengqiang
Hello, everyone, My name is Wang mengqiang, I am expecting to get your help on development very much. I am investigating to develop a commerce driver on linux. I have studied the sane project for some time. And, we are planning to develop the driver on sane. But, I have some doubts on license

[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

2008-06-04 Thread m. allan noah
On 6/4/08, Wang Mengqiang wrote: > Hello, everyone, > > My name is Wang mengqiang, I am expecting to get your help on development > very much. > > I am investigating to develop a commerce driver on linux. I have studied > the sane project for some time. And, we are planning to develop the dri