LaCie Ethernet Disk RAID

[Jeffrey Creem]

Christopher Schmidt wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 01, 2007 at 06:58:01PM -0500, thinkliberty wrote:
>   
>> I just got a "LaCie Ethernet Disk RAID" which runs Linux.
>>
>> They even tell you that the OS is Linux in the product feature chart.
>>
>> See:
>> http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10877
>>
>> No where in the documentation (users manual, quick start guide, etc.. ) is a
>> copy of the GPL or even a mention of it.
>>
>> I called their tech support line to see if they had a website or something
>> where I could download the source code or if they could mail it to me and
>> the tech support agent told me that I could not have it. That the OS is
>> proprietary!
>>
>> How could a sane company use software in their product without agreeing or
>> understanding the License? If I owned any Lacie stock I would sell it.
>>     
>
> Don't they only have to distribute the OS if they modify it? It may be
> entirely Linux underneath, but with no modifications to the Kernel, 
> running a proprietary distribution on top of that, which doesn't touch
> the kernel. Although I don't think that gets them out from not including
> the GPL, I think it would mean they don't need to give you the code so
> long as they point to where they got it, no? 
>
> Regards,
>   
No. They must provide you with the source code even for the unmodified 
GPL components. They must also provide a copy of the GPL license itself.
Yes, they can run proprietary stuff on top of it and not give you 
that..But they are distributing binaries, they must distribute the 
source at the same time or provide a written offer to provide the source.

 From the GPL -->

*3.* You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, 
under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of 
Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:


    *a)* Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
    source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1
    and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or, 

    *b)* Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
    years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost
    of physically performing source distribution, a complete
    machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
    distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium
    customarily used for software interchange; or, 

    *c)* Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer
    to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is
    allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received
    the program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in
    accord with Subsection b above.) 

The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for 
making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source code 
means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any 
associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to control 
compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a special 
exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that is 
normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the major 
components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on 
which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies the 
executable.

If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering access 
to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent access to copy 
the source code from the same place counts as distribution of the source 
code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy the source 
along with the object code.

<--


What is odd is they seem to understand this (at least a little) as they 
do have source for other GPL items available 
http://www.lacie.com/support/drivers/