ensure you do not accidentally violate the law.
<p>
+<h3>Complying with the BusyBox license is easy and completely free.</h3>
+
+U.S. and International Law protects copyright owners from the unauthorized
+reproduction, adaptation, display, distribution, etc of copyright protected
+works. Copyright violations (such as shipping BusyBox in a manner contrary to
+its license) are subject to severe penalties. The courts can award up to
+$150,000 per product shipped without even showing any actual loss by the
+copyright holder. Criminal penalties are available for intentional acts
+undertaken for purposes of "commercial advantage" or "private financial gain."
+In addition, if it comes to my attention that you are violating the BusyBox
+license, I will list you on the <a href="/shame.html">BusyBox Hall of Shame</a>
+webpage.
<p>
+Nobody wants that to happen. Do everyone a favor and don't break the law -- if
+you use BusyBox, you <b>must comply with the BusyBox license</b>.
+
+<p>
+<h3>BusyBox is licensed under the GNU General Public License</h3>
+
BusyBox is licensed under the GNU General Public License , which
-is generally just abbreviated simply as the GPL license, or
-just the GPL. <a href="/products.html">Anyone thinking of shipping
+is generally just abbreviated as the GPL license, or
+just the GPL.
+<p>
+<a href="/products.html">Anyone thinking of shipping
BusyBox as part of a product</a> should be familiar with the
licensing terms under which they are allowed to use and
distribute BusyBox. You are advised to take a look over the
<p>
-<b>Accompanied by source</b> generally means you place the full
-source code for all GPL'd products such as BusyBox on a driver CD
-somewhere. Full source code includes the BusyBox ".config" file
-used when your shipping BusyBox binary was compiled.
+<b>Accompanied by source</b> generally means you distribute the full
+source code for all GPL'd products including BusyBox along with your
+product, such as by placing it somewhere on a driver CD. Full source
+code includes the BusyBox ".config" file used when your shipping BusyBox
+binary was compiled, and any and all modifications you made to the
+BusyBox source code.
<p>
<b>A written offer</b> generally means that somewhere in the
-docs for your product, you write something like
+documentation for your product, you write something like
<blockquote>
The GPL source code contained in this product is available as a
free download from http://blah.blah.blah/
</blockquote>
-Or you can offer source by writing
-somewhere in the docs for your product something like
+Alternatively, you can offer the source code by writing
+somewhere in the documentation for your product something like
<blockquote>
-If you would like a copy of the GPL source code in this product
-on a CD, please send $9.99 to <address> for the costs of
-preparing and mailing a CD to you.
+If you would like a copy of the GPL source code contained in this
+product shipped to you on CD, please send $9.99 to <address>
+which covers the cost of preparing and mailing a CD to you.
</blockquote>
<p>
-Keep in mind though that if you distribute GPL'd binaries online
-(as is often done when supplying firmware updates), it is highly
-recommended that you make the corresponding source available online
-at the same place. Regardless, you <b>must</b> either make source
-available online (i.e. <b>accompanied by source</b>) and/or inform
-those downloading firmware updates of their right to obtain source
-(i.e. <b>a written offer</b>). Failure to do so is a violation of
-your licensing obligations.
+Keep in mind though that if you distribute GPL'd binaries online (as is often
+done when supplying firmware updates), it is <b>highly</b> recommended that you
+make the corresponding source available online at the same place. Regardless,
+if you distribute a binary copy of BusyBox online (such as part of a firmware
+update) you <b>must</b> either make source available online (i.e.
+<b>accompanied by source</b>) and/or inform those downloading firmware updates
+of their right to obtain source (i.e. <b>a written offer</b>). Failure to do
+so is a violation of your licensing obligations.
<p>
as discussed on this webpage.
<p>
+<h3>A Good Example</h3>
These days, <a href="http://www.linksys.com/">Linksys</a> is
doing a good job at complying with the GPL, they get to be an
check out what they do with
<a href="http://www.linksys.com/download/firmware.asp?fwid=178">
distributing the firmware for their WRT54G Router.</a>
-Following their example would be a fine way to ensure you have
-fulfilled your licensing obligations.
+Following their example would be a fine way to ensure that you
+have also fulfilled your licensing obligations.
<!--#include file="footer.html" -->
projects / oweals / busybox.git / blobdiff