Hello, CentOS team and everyone who cares about CentOS,
Huawei release an Euler OS, which is an distribution based on CentOS. http://developer.huawei.com/ict/en/site-euleros/euleros-introduction
According to CentOS's statement, CentOS is distributed under the GPLv2 License. http://mirror.centos.org/centos/7.4.1708/os/x86_64/EULA
The GPL license requires the modified version to be open-source AND release in the GPL license, as well.
However, Huawei break the GPL license by close-source and replace the license with their proprietary one.
How do I find it? Well, I download the so-called Euler OS from http://developer.huawei.com/ict/site-euleros/euleros/repo/yum/2.2/os/x86_64/...
And install it in the virtual machine. From the following path: /usr/share/euleros-release/EULA /usr/share/eula/eula/eula.en_US I find that it is NOT the GPL license, but Huawei's own license.
So is Huawei breaking the license of CentOS?
On Tue, 20 Feb 2018 21:02:59 +0800 Genghuang Wang wangtianjiao.wang959@gmail.com wrote:
Hello, CentOS team and everyone who cares about CentOS,
Huawei release an Euler OS, which is an distribution based on CentOS. http://developer.huawei.com/ict/en/site-euleros/euleros-introduction
According to CentOS's statement, CentOS is distributed under the GPLv2 License. http://mirror.centos.org/centos/7.4.1708/os/x86_64/EULA
The GPL license requires the modified version to be open-source AND release in the GPL license, as well.
However, Huawei break the GPL license by close-source and replace the license with their proprietary one.
I picked up a few packages from it and they all retain their upstream License afaict (GPL). In their EULA they also say that a lot is "open source licensed".
If they use CentOS branding that would be a problem (although not related to GPL).
If they don't provide source upon request for any/all parts that are GPL that would be a problem (I have not checked).
Linux distributions don't really have one license, it's a collection of packages with various licenses...
/Peter
Hello, Peter, thanks for your reply
1. Huawei DOES change the distribution EULA, if type in the following command: vi /usr/share/eula/eula.en_US you can see it changed to "HUAWEI EulerOS-2.0" which is a copyright one, let alone original GPL license.
According to CentOS Linux EULA The Distribution is released as GPLv2. Individual packages in the distribution come with their own licences.
So the Distribution license is violated in this sense.
2. GPL is a strong copyleft license, which means that any derivative work to be open-source under the same GPL license, this to be prevent it from switching to some more permissive license. So release under a copyright license with the statement linking to "open source license",which is done by Huawei, is not allowed.
3. Euler OS by Huawei does not have any public source code repository.
On 21 February 2018 at 00:16, Peter Kjellström cap@nsc.liu.se wrote:
On Tue, 20 Feb 2018 21:02:59 +0800 Genghuang Wang wangtianjiao.wang959@gmail.com wrote:
Hello, CentOS team and everyone who cares about CentOS,
Huawei release an Euler OS, which is an distribution based on CentOS. http://developer.huawei.com/ict/en/site-euleros/euleros-introduction
According to CentOS's statement, CentOS is distributed under the GPLv2 License. http://mirror.centos.org/centos/7.4.1708/os/x86_64/EULA
The GPL license requires the modified version to be open-source AND release in the GPL license, as well.
However, Huawei break the GPL license by close-source and replace the license with their proprietary one.
I picked up a few packages from it and they all retain their upstream License afaict (GPL). In their EULA they also say that a lot is "open source licensed".
If they use CentOS branding that would be a problem (although not related to GPL).
If they don't provide source upon request for any/all parts that are GPL that would be a problem (I have not checked).
Linux distributions don't really have one license, it's a collection of packages with various licenses...
/Peter
On Wed, 21 Feb 2018 09:31:20 +0800 Genghuang Wang wangtianjiao.wang959@gmail.com wrote:
Hello, Peter, thanks for your reply
- Huawei DOES change the distribution EULA, if type in the following
command: vi /usr/share/eula/eula.en_US you can see it changed to "HUAWEI EulerOS-2.0" which is a copyright one, let alone original GPL license.
That EULA may be meant to apply to Euler OS specific components or it's just a, likely incompatible, corporate legal boiler plate. Either way, it does not overide individual GPL components repective licenses.
According to CentOS Linux EULA The Distribution is released as GPLv2. Individual packages in the distribution come with their own licences.
Maybe someone from the CentOS project or Redhat can comment further on this. To me it seems they don't, at a first glance, use any CentOS specific things but rather rebuilds upstream RHEL in a similar manner to CentOS. If so then we're back to the license of all the individual components...
So the Distribution license is violated in this sense.
- GPL is a strong copyleft license, which means that any derivative
work to be open-source under the same GPL license, this to be prevent it from switching to some more permissive license. So release under a copyright license with the statement linking to "open source license",which is done by Huawei, is not allowed.
I'm well aware of what the GPL is. Clearly any rebuilt/modified packages/components with GPL license will still be GPL.
rpm query on EulerOS packages (sampled) does not claim Huawei license but seems to retain original GPL.
- Euler OS by Huawei does not have any public source code repository.
Well they don't have to. However they have to provide source upon request. Convenient src.rpm repo is going beyond what is required.
In the end I supose that's all it boils down to. Will they provide source if poked?
/Peter
On 02/21/2018 10:02 AM, Peter Kjellström wrote:
On Wed, 21 Feb 2018 09:31:20 +0800 Genghuang Wang wangtianjiao.wang959@gmail.com wrote:
Hello, Peter, thanks for your reply
- Huawei DOES change the distribution EULA, if type in the following
command: vi /usr/share/eula/eula.en_US you can see it changed to "HUAWEI EulerOS-2.0" which is a copyright one, let alone original GPL license.
That EULA may be meant to apply to Euler OS specific components or it's just a, likely incompatible, corporate legal boiler plate. Either way, it does not overide individual GPL components repective licenses.
According to CentOS Linux EULA The Distribution is released as GPLv2. Individual packages in the distribution come with their own licences.
Maybe someone from the CentOS project or Redhat can comment further on this. To me it seems they don't, at a first glance, use any CentOS specific things but rather rebuilds upstream RHEL in a similar manner to CentOS. If so then we're back to the license of all the individual components...
So the Distribution license is violated in this sense.
But, they are NOT distributing CentOS Linux, but something else. As long as they follow the license requirements for individual componets / packages from which they are using the source code, that is the requirement they have to meet. If they use an open source license to build an individual package, they have to meet the requirements of that project. The 'combination' of a set of packages into different work under a different name means you have to meet the requirements of the individual things you included. If they BASE off of and do not CLAIM to be something, they get to decide how they distribute what they created .. based on the component parts. (IMHO .. IANAL)
- GPL is a strong copyleft license, which means that any derivative
work to be open-source under the same GPL license, this to be prevent it from switching to some more permissive license. So release under a copyright license with the statement linking to "open source license",which is done by Huawei, is not allowed.
I'm well aware of what the GPL is. Clearly any rebuilt/modified packages/components with GPL license will still be GPL.
rpm query on EulerOS packages (sampled) does not claim Huawei license but seems to retain original GPL.
- Euler OS by Huawei does not have any public source code repository.
Well they don't have to. However they have to provide source upon request. Convenient src.rpm repo is going beyond what is required.
In the end I supose that's all it boils down to. Will they provide source if poked?
Exactly .. this is the key.
/Peter
If they retain all the individual licensing on all the packages, and modify the centos-release and other centos* packaging, they are likely following the letter of the law.
Of course, they have to give source code if requested by users who have their binaries (assuming the license is copyleft and requires it for that package).
IANAL, but if they remove the pieces of CentOS Linux that contain trademarks (the centos-* ... the * being release, indexhtml, artwork, etc.) AND if they build and sign their own stuff based on the CentOS source code, AND they follow the original licensing requirements for the individual packages, then again, they are likely meeting all requirements.
As stated a couple times already .. this is just my opinion based on my understanding. I am not a lawyer, nor do I speak for anyone except myself.
Thanks, Johnny Hughes
Hello
I have found the Docker images for the above-mentioned Euler OS.
https://github.com/euleros/euleros-docker-images/blob/master/2.2/EulerOS-2.2... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docker_(software)
However, after opening it, I find it to be "shared object" files.
It is not the source code, which should include source file and headers.
And according to the https://github.com/euleros/euleros-docker-images/blob/master/README.md They claim it to be GPLv2, which is in contradiction with the EULA inside their compiled system, interestingly.
So I am considering open an issue there, asking for it to be open-source.
On Fri, 23 Feb 2018 17:27:51 +0800 Genghuang Wang wangtianjiao.wang959@gmail.com wrote:
Hello
I have found the Docker images for the above-mentioned Euler OS.
https://github.com/euleros/euleros-docker-images/blob/master/2.2/EulerOS-2.2... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docker_(software)
However, after opening it, I find it to be "shared object" files.
It is not the source code, which should include source file and headers.
You seem confused. A docket image is not expected to contain any source code. It's a container format (all-inclusive application packaging).
And according to the https://github.com/euleros/euleros-docker-images/blob/master/README.md They claim it to be GPLv2, which is in contradiction with the EULA
IANL but I don't see the contradiction. Most components in that image is GPL etc.
So I am considering open an issue there, asking for it to be open-source.
They say it is open source. So if you open an issue the relevant question is: Where can I find the source code for ...?
/Peter
On 27 February 2018 at 16:08, Peter Kjellström cap@nsc.liu.se wrote:
So I am considering open an issue there, asking for it to be open-source.
They say it is open source. So if you open an issue the relevant question is: Where can I find the source code for ...?
/Peter
Hello, Peter, thanks for your help,
I have opened an Github issue at https://github.com/euleros/euleros-docker-images/issues/8 , according to your instructions.
I'm waiting the reply by the developer.
Hello
The developer has provided the repository at http://developer.huawei.com/ict/site-euleros/euleros/source/2.2/
I have downloaded some source rpm package from the provided repository, and can see the source file and headers.
So I think after finding the location of the source file, this issue has been resolved.
Thanks for help!
-
Genghuang Wang -
Johnny Hughes -
Peter Kjellström