“This article examines a field called compliance engineering. Compliance engineering was pioneered by technical experts who wanted to address misuses of software, and was made famous by gpl-violations.org, FSF, and similar organizations correcting Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) license violations. The field has grown into a commercial segment with companies like Blackduck Software and consultancy firms like Loohuis Consulting offering formal services to third parties.

Rather than attempting to examine compliance engineering in all market segments and under all conditions, this article will focus on explaining some of the tools and skills required to undertake due diligence activities related to licensing and binary code in the embedded industry. It is based on the GPL Compliance Engineering Guide, which in turn is based on the experience of engineers contributing to the gpl-violations.org project.”

You can read the full text on LWN.net.

For more information about FOSS compliance engineering in the embedded industry and Opendawn’s services in this area please contact us.

“Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) license compliance is a contentious topic. There are different perspectives about when and how license terms apply, about which licenses can be used together, and about how potential issues should be resolved. The consumer electronics market is an area where FOSS license compliance is particularly problematic. This is primarily attributable to economic reasons rather than dishonesty, but in a market worth more than $335 Billion in 2008, it is an issue worth exploring.

Due to the relative youth of the FOSS ecosystem, there is a lack of case law and best practice information available. In the past, one of the few resources available to the community was Debian Legal, and businesses had little beyond Open Bar (USA) and ifrOSS (EU) to support them.

That situation is improving. Organizations like FSF’s Free Software Licensing and Compliance Lab, gpl-violations.org, FSFE’s Freedom Task Force and Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) have helped push professional legal and business approaches to the forefront of FOSS discourse. The recent launch of the International Free and Open Source Software Law Review has provided a neutral platform for future discussions. As FOSS has matured so too has the level of information accessible to support businesses and projects.“

You can read the full text on LWN.net.

For more information about FOSS license compliance in the consumer electronics market and Opendawn’s services in this area please contact us.