[NMLUG] How to open source

[wjl at icecavern.net (Wesley J Landaker)]

On Wednesday 23 June 2004 21:49, Paul Tietjens wrote:
> After years of working with open source software, I feel I may
> finally have something to give back.  The trouble is, I'm not sure
> how to go about it!

There are all sorts of things that can go along with it to make things 
easier, but essentially releasing something under an open-source 
license really requires just two steps:

1) Choose[1] a license, and
2) Make the source available[2].

[1] Of course, when you choose a license, you need to make sure that if 
your code is derived from other licensed works that you are meeting the 
obligations required by the licenses of those works.

[2] Giving away the source code to a single person is "releasing" your 
software, but probably you mean a more general public release. =)

> I've looked into Sourceforge and of course savannah.gnu.org, but not
> being a super coder I really am not sure what forum these initial
> releases should belong to.

Sourceforge and Savannah and other similar sites help with #2 above. 

You can do something as simple as tarring up your code and putting it on 
a web site, or perhaps posting a message that says "I've released xyz, 
e-mail me if you want a copy", or even "For $50, I will sell you a 
boxed set containing this software, complete with source code, a 
manual, and free technical support."

All of those are completely[3] fine, however, many people, especially 
those who are quite active in developing their software, or who want a 
lot of community participation, find that there is other infrastructure 
that helps immensely in managing the development and release of an open 
project. Such niceties include:

 - Version control (ala CVS, Subversion, Arch, etc)
 - "Issue" tracking (bugs, support requests, submitted patches)
 - Mailing lists or other types of forums
 - Categorical listing (to be easily found by interested parties)
 - News & documentation publication

... and other such things. If you decide to host your project on a 
Sourceforge/Savannah type site, they pretty much provide you with these 
kinds of features. Of course, it's still up to you to take advantage of 
them[4].

[3] As long as it is allowed by the licenses of the code from which you 
have derived your code, if any.

[4] For example, most projects on Sourceforge don't use their mailing 
lists or forums, many don't use CVS at all, and an unfortunate number 
seem to have created their project skeleton but never actually released 
any files in any form.

> Anyone have any experience with this?  I also, because my projects
> involve other pieces of GPL stuff, have some questions about what
> format they need to be released in.

If your code is derived from GPL code, you're obliged to follow the 
terms of the GPL. The easiest way to do this is to simply release your 
code under the GPL as well. I can answer specific GPL questions if you 
have them, but the most important things to remember are:

1) Keep original copyright notices intact, although you are generally 
free to rearrange them; add your own copyright notices where you've 
authored or modified things.
2) Include somewhere in your distribution the fact that you have 
modified files, if you have. (Be sure this is dated, as that is a 
requirement of the GPL.)
3) Include the GPL itself in your distribution. If you don't do this, 
you have to do some other things that are more probably more tedious.

That's generally about it, but feel free to ask here for more specific 
advice. Of course, it's better yet to just read the GPL itself, as it's 
pretty free from legaleeze.

> Specifically, I wrote an autorun script for System Rescue CD, which
> is based on Gentoo, and has scripts for compiling custom-built ISOs.
>
> Am I compelled by the GPL to release all available source code for
> this ISO, or am I covered by the fact that the source is already
> available from the various mother projects?

Chances are, your script doesn't actually include source code from most 
programs on the CD. In all likelihood, the only code you would need to 
distribute was the actual code of your script, with appropriate 
copyright notices (just you if you wrote the whole script, you plus the 
copyright notices from code you snarfed if you cut and paste from a GPL 
script), and the GPL itself.

> Probably stupid questions, but hey, I'm not proud!

Well, I hope my stupid answers helped! =)

-- 
Wesley J. Landaker <wjl@icecavern.net>
OpenPGP FP: 4135 2A3B 4726 ACC5 9094  0097 F0A9 8A4C 4CD6 E3D2

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