No Knoppix kernel headers and source (GPL Violation?)

[pau1knopp]

Here is a reprint from my posting to comp.os.linux.misc made yesterday. I am looking for comments.

I have a question that I realize could start a flame war, but I
proceed in caution regardless. This posting is MEANT as an
observation and an opportunity for improvement on what is (for my
purposes) the best linux distribution out there - KNOPPIX.

I won't go into all the features of this distro, just go to google or
www.knoppix.net and you'll get all the information you need and some
darn good community support as well.

I have one significant issue with the Knoppix distro, and that is
their failure to include the kernel headers and source for their
distribution. This makes it very difficult (for me) to do development
work on this as some items (openh323 telephony modules for example)
require the kernel headers and source in order to compile.

Not being faint of heart, I made an attempt to compile my own by
obtaining the kernel source from kernel.org, obtaining the necessary
kernel patches, and scouring suggestions from the Knoppix forum, but
have had no success following any one "recipe". Additionally (and
very important to me for change control purposes) it seems that doing
it this way (homebrewing my own kernel source 2.4.20-xfs ) leaves the
end product open to individual mistakes in a production environment.
An official release of kernel headers and source seems like a
necessary baseline.

Most significantly, it seems that the GPL requires a distributor to
provide this sort of source code if they are to distribute Linux. The
portion of the GPL I am referring to immediately follows this post.

Let me close by saying I DO NOT feel like this is an entitlement due
me or anyone else in the Linux community. Klaus and team have done an
exceptional job on this distro, which is getting better over time.
They have and continue to be outstanding contributors to Linux
adaptation and development. However, I DO feel that this is a
significant technical drawback restricting development on this
distribution, and for good reason is required by the GPL.

Your constructive comments regarding the reasonableness of making an
official REQUEST (please note the choice of word) to the Knoppix
organization are most welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Paul

***begin GPL TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND
MODIFICATION****

3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:

* a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1
and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,

* b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of
physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable
copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the
terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for
software interchange; or,

* c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the
offer to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is
allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received
the program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in
accord with Subsection b above.)

The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source
code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any
associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to
control compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a
special exception, the source code distributed need not include
anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary
form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the
operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component
itself accompanies the executable.

If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering
access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
access to copy the source code from the same place counts as
distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not
compelled to copy the source along with the object code.

***end GPL TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND
MODIFICATION***

original link @

http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&...oogle%2BSearch

[pau1knopp]

Thanks to all who responded and in the spirit i had hoped for .

Forum user Spamjin sent me the following useful information just before i received an email from none other than, drum roll please, Klaus Knopper hisself!

Thanks all for helping me obtain these.

All I needed was located at:

http://www.knopper.net/download/knoppix/

which appears to redirect to:

http://developer.linuxtag.net

After installing source and headers into /usr/src/linux, my telephony app compiled and i got a dialtone right away. Have been trying to get this app off a windows box since February so our shop can go totally GNU. Thanks all...

***email from Spamjin***

Is this what you were looking for? See highlighted portion for links.


http://knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

<snip>
What license does the KNOPPIX-CD use?

If not otherwise specified, the software on the CD falls under the GNU
GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE. Similar to other Open Source licenses, this
means that you can copy, modify, redistribute and even resell the CD
without restrictions, as long as the recipient receives the same
license. The source code of the standard packages on the CD are
available from their respective original providers (for example on the
\/ \/ \/ \/ \/
FTP servers at Debian, RedHat, Mandrake). Special components such as
the
KNOPPIX kernel or the automatic hardware detection source code can be
downloaded from http://www.knopper.net/download/knoppix/ if not already
available in the /usr/src directory on the CD. Individual packages, as
^^^^^^
specified by the GPL, may fall under another license (for example
Netscape). If in doubt, the licenses can be found in the help sections
or the DEB-database (dpkg -p package-name) of each software package.

(Sorry, but I didn't know how to use the forum yet. Perhaps you can
post
a followup?)

[malaire]

Most significantly, it seems that the GPL requires a distributor to
provide this sort of source code if they are to distribute Linux. The
portion of the GPL I am referring to immediately follows this post.

You should read more carefully the portion you just quoted, specifically section 3b:

3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:

* a) ...

* b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of
physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable
copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the
terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for
software interchange; or,

* c) ...

The source code for a work means ...

Please read that carefully. Klaus is doing just what that section 3b requires by including a note like this on every Knoppix release:

you can order the sources directly from Knopper.Net for the cost of material, copying, packaging and postage. This offer is valid for 3 years, counting from the build date of this CD-Rom/DVD.

So there is no GPL violation.