[Savannah-hackers] Ethernut Project

[Harald Kipp]

Hi,

I've developed a tiny RTOS and TCP/IP stack, initially
using

http://liquorice.sourceforge.net/

Dave Hudson, the original author, uses a GPL type
licence with a special exception to make it distributable
in embedded systems (ROM code).

All parts written by me are kind of BSD licence,
allowing redistribution in source or binary form, open
source and closed source projects. Other parts, mainly
TCP/IP and Ethernet, were taken from other BSD licenced
source codes. The complete collection can be found at

http://ethernut.de/api/copyleft.html

Please note, that embedded software is often distributed
in ROMs, which doesn't allow the end user to do any
changes. So my first question is

Would this conflict with your policy?

As far as I can say, the project conforms to all other
requirements, using Linux, GCC and a few other free tools,
like uisp... EXCEPT:

The project is closely related to a specific hardware
design, called the "Ethernut Board". My company creates
some revenue from selling them. We also provide full
schematics and production details as "Open Hardware", so
everybody can build the board without asking us. Here's
my second question:

Would the close relation to any hardware design conflict
with your policy?

My company would like to transfer the code to a public
CVS server to share the task of further development.
I already setup a sourceforge account, but would like
to cancel this and use Savannah instead. Not to be
misunderstood, I do not intend to distribute the hardware
design through Savannah, only the RTOS and TCP/IP stack
source code and documentation.

This email is CCed to Thed Roth, who pointed me to
Savannah. I'd appreciate, if your answer is CCed to him
too. He knows a bit about our project and may be able
to help in case of misunderstandings, because English
is not my native language and these laywer stuff is
too confusing to me, even in German.

Thank you for spending your time on this lengthy email
and helping me to understand your point.

Kind regards,


Harald Kipp

egnite Software GmbH     TEL +49 (0)2323-925375
Westring 303             FAX +49 (0)2323-925374
D 44629 Herne            http://www.egnite.de
Germany

Ethernut Support:     http://www.ethernut.de