Date: Wed, 15 Jul 92 09:05:43 EDT
From: DJ Delorie <dj AT ctron DOT com>
To: kuku AT acds DOT physik DOT rwth-aachen DOT de
Cc: karna AT pobox DOT upenn DOT edu, djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu
Subject:  Some distribution answers

>As we are talking about distribution issues:

>As a remedy to get out of the 5% royalty fee game you recommend to 
>distribute go32+sources+libgcc sources separately to customers.

go32+sources to avoid go32 royalties, libgcc sources MUST be
distributed as per the LGPL or GPL - they're not mine, and you have to
meet the FSF's copyleft for them.

>What about libgr.a or libgrx.a? 

libgr.a is OK, just like libc.a.  As for libgrx, you have to come to
terms with it's author, who I think allows for a one-time fee.

>DJ, your work is surely worth a lot of work and man hours, but the
>licensing terms are provoking thoughts how to circumvent them.

I encourage circumventing them - it's better for the customer.  The
exposure is worth the effort I put into it, and since I didn't do it
for profit to begin with it doesn't bother me.  I get a lot off the
net for free also - this is just my way of paying it back.

>Dealing constantly with a 5% fee to DJ is difficult to practise
>in a commercial environment.

I allow for companies to arrange for one-time fees also.  The 5%/$5
arrangement is a *default* for those who want an easy solution.  It's
amazing how many people would rather pay the royalty than ship out the
sources.

>I suggest you offer a one time fee by which customers can buy themselves
>free for unlimited use of go32.

The readme states that I'm amenable to other terms.

>This is the practice of some compiler vendors, too. You buy a compiler
>and get a royalty free DOS extender. Compared to the latter I find
>a 5% royalty fee relatively highh rated.

As stated above, all you need to ship are sources for go32 itself, not
the whole mess (except for GPL stuff, but that's all in libgcc.a), and
I encourage distributors to do so.  Note that the distribution policy
is just like GPL - sending out a promise to deliver valid for three
years is sufficient, as long as go32.exe is a separate executable.
There are no restrictions on my emu387 or my graphics drivers, or
stub.exe.

DJ
dj AT ctron DOT com
Life is a banana.