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doc update: add legal notes

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from a long time ago:
http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/mingw-cross-env-list/2011-03/msg00107.html
pull/307/merge
Tony Theodore 11 years ago
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commit fd09b2f247
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@ -129,6 +129,7 @@
<li><a href="#packages" >List of Packages</a></li>
<li><a href="#creating-packages">Creating Packages</a></li>
<li><a href="#copyright" >Copyright</a></li>
<li><a href="#legal" >Legal</a></li>
<li><a href="#history" >History</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
@ -2457,7 +2458,8 @@ local-pkg-list: $(LOCAL_PKG_LIST)</pre>
<a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">free</a>
<a href="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines">software</a>
<a href="http://www.opensource.org/osd.html">library</a>
that is really used by one of your applications.
that is really used by one of your applications. Please also review our
<a href="#legal">legal notes</a>.
</p>
<p>
@ -2758,6 +2760,166 @@ endef</pre>
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h2 id="legal">Legal</h2>
<h3>Disclaimer - it's all code...</h3>
<p>
Modern legal systems are like any other large, complex, and evolving body
of code you're likely to encounter.
</p>
<p>
They have their own language with quirky parsers, compilers, and
interpreters (though these tend to be human). Their issue trackers are
a backlog of court cases. They have bugs. They have traps for the
uninitiated that may potentially do more than waste your time.
</p>
<p>
We currently limit ourselves to:
</p>
<pre>--enable-languages='c,c++,objc,fortran'</pre>
<p>
so nothing mentioned here or on the mailing list should be taken as
legal advice. :-)
</p>
<h3>Choosing the right compiler</h3>
<p>
The best starting point for any legal questions would be the
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/">FTF (Freedom Task Force of the FSFE (Free Software Foundation Europe)).</a>
</p>
<p>
They have been very helpful in the past, and maintain an
<a href="http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/network.en.html">extensive network</a>
of legal contacts, both within and outside Europe.
</p>
<p>Your local jurisdiction may be a signatory to various
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_international_copyright_agreements">international agreements,</a>
so be sure to mention where you are in any correspondence (much like any
detailed bug report really).
</p>
<p>Additionally, you should also do some background reading from the
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLIncompatibleLibs">FSF (Free Software Foundation)</a>
and
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Lesser_General_Public_License">Wikipedia</a>
to familiarise yourself with some of the potential issues (and experience
some context-switching overhead).
</p>
<h3 id="contributions">Contributions</h3>
<p>
Contributions are always welcome!
</p>
<p>
Ownership of all contributions (bug fixes, new packages, doc updates, etc.)
remain with the author. All we require is a real name (no l33t handles,
please), and that you release your work under
<a href="#copyright">our licence</a>.
</p>
<p>If you prefer not to be credited with a contribution, please notify
the committer.
</p>
<h3 id="package-licenses">Package Licences</h3>
<p>
Each package is individually licensed under terms specified by the
authors of that package. Please see the respective source tarball
and/or project website for details.
</p>
<p>
Packages that are
<a href="http://www.audiocoding.com/faac.html">non-free</a>
or
<a href="http://glaros.dtc.umn.edu/gkhome/metis/metis/faq#distribute">ambiguous</a>
will be
<a href="http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/mingw-cross-env-list/2010-12/msg00049.html">removed</a>
or
<a href="http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/mingw-cross-env-list/2010-09/msg00063.html">rejected</a>.
</p>
<p>
The definition of free must be one of:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">The Free Software Definition</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines">The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.opensource.org/osd.html">The Open Source Definition</a></li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>
Please contact the
<a href="http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/mingw-cross-env-list">mailing list</a>
if you notice a package that doesn't meet these guidlines.
</p>
<h3 id="other-legal-considerations">Other Considerations</h3>
<p>
In addition to the usual considerations (copyrights, patents,
trademarks, export regulations etc.), building
<a href="http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/mingw-cross-env-list/2010-12/msg00025.html">statically linked</a>
libraries
<a href="http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/mingw-cross-env-list/2011-02/msg00018.html">for Windows</a>
exposes some edge cases that you may not have encountered before.
</p>
<p>
According to
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">freedom 0</a> and our
<a href="#copyright">own licence</a>,
you can use mxe in countless different
environments, each with it's own special legal considerations. The
configuration options of certain packages (e.g ffmpeg) allow the use of
non-free software and/or combinations that cause license violations.
</p>
<p>
For these packages, we will provide sensible defaults aimed
at achieving the following goals:
<ol>
<li>avoid causing inherent licensing issues with conflicting options</li>
<li>make the package as feature complete as possible</li>
</ol>
</p>
<p>
Note that this does not prevent downstream violations, or affect any
further obligations a licence may impose on you.
</p>
<h3 id="potential-legal-issues">Potential Issues - Non Exhaustive List</h3>
<h4>LGPL and Static Linking</h4>
<p>
Review the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Lesser_General_Public_License#Differences_from_the_GPL">Differences from the GPL</a>
section of the Wikipedia article mentioned above.
</p>
<h4>GPL and OpenSSL</h4>
<p>
See conflicting accounts from the
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#OpenSSL">FSF</a>
and the
<a href="http://www.openssl.org/support/faq.html#LEGAL2">OpenSSL project</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h2 id="history">History</h2>

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