Re: Violation of licensing

On Mon, Jun 25, 2012 at 12:39 PM, Chris <chris0728xx@yahoo.com> wrote: > Hi, > > I was looking for a PHP distribution for my Netgear ReadyNAS, and found it at > ReadyNASXtras.com. However, they are requiring a fee to download it. > > This has always been confusing to me, but I thought OpenSource software couldn't be > repackaged and sold by another party. > > Is what ReadyNASXtras is doing a violation of your license? As Hannes mentioned, no, it's not a direct violation unless the source has been modified in any way. That said, it appears to me as though they are charging their fee for the convenience of having a platform-specific compilation of PHP for your NAS device already built and ready to deploy. One would presume it not only comes with a completely automated install, but also some level of guaranteed support. If you really want a good example of how often - and sometimes, how grossly - things like this happen to open source projects, you need look no further than the Flightgear project. The Flightgear team published an open letter on the subject will explain everything, and the majority of the statements they make are identical to all FOSS (Free Open Source Software) projects. You can read about it here: http://www.flightgear.org/flightprosim.html -- </Daniel P. Brown> Network Infrastructure Manager http://www.php.net/