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Bradley M. Kuhn 2014-11-07 07:35:19 -05:00
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enforcement-case-studies.tex
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@ -240,8 +240,44 @@ requests, and in this course, we examine four specific examples of such
compliance work. compliance work.
% FIXME: make this section properly TeX-formatted % FIXME: make this section properly TeX-formatted
\chapter{ThinkPenguin Wireless Router: A study in Excellent CCS} \chapter{ThinkPenguin Wireless Router: Excellent CCS}
Too often, case studies examine failure and mistakes. Indeed, most of the
chapters that follow herein will consider the myriad difficulties discovered
in community-oriented GPL enforcement for the last two decades. However, to
begin, we offer a study in how copyleft compliance done correctly.
This example is, in fact, more than ten years in the making. Since almost
the inception of for-profit corporate adoption of Free Software, companies
have requested a clear example of a model citizen to emulate. Sadly, while
community-oriented enforcers have vetted uncounted thousands of CCS
candidates from hundreds of companies, the CCS release describes the first
one CCS experts have declared a ``pristine example''.
% FIXME: link to a ``CCS iteration'' discussion in compliance-guide.tex when
% one exists. (the ``iteration process'' is discussed in~\ref{} of this guide)
Of course, most CCS examined for the last decade has (eventually) complied
with the GPL, perhaps after many iterations of review by the enforcer.
However, in the experience of the two primary community-oriented enforcers,
Conservancy and the FSF, such CCS results routinely fix the description of
``barely complies with GPL's requirements''. To use an academic analogy:
while a ``C'' is certainly a passing grade, any instructor prefers to
disseminate to the class a exemplar sample that earned an ``A''.
Fortunately, thanks in large part to the industry pressure of the FSF's
``Respects Your Freedom'' (RYF) certification campaign\footnote{\href{RYF is
a campaign by FSF to certify products that truly meet the principles of
software freedom}. Products must meet
\href{http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/criteria}{strict
standards for RYF certification}, and among them is a pristine example of
CCS\@}, electronics products have begun to appear on the market that are
held to a higher standard of copyleft compliance. As such, for the first
time in the history of copyleft, CCS experts have pristine examples to study
and present as exemplars worthy of emulation.
This case study therefore examines the entire life-cycle of a GPL compliance
investigation: from product purchase, to source request, to CCS review.
This case study does a step-by-step build and installation analysis of one This case study does a step-by-step build and installation analysis of one
of the best Complete, Corresponding Source (CCS) releases we've seen. The of the best Complete, Corresponding Source (CCS) releases we've seen. The
CSS release studied here was provided for the binary distribution of a CSS release studied here was provided for the binary distribution of a