Software of open-e.com respects GPL?

[mrintegrity]

I registered for the trial version which I am currently downloading. On
the trial version download page the small print states:

> Important note: Before installing the Open-E 30 days trial version, we
> like to notify that all data on the test system will be deleted. This
> trial version will only work when logical volumes are added and the
> underlying HDD(s) are being formatted. If you want to run on the
> Open-E trial software on a running system with data, we strongly
> advise you to backup this data first. Otherwise all your data may be
> lost. Open-E disclaims any liability for data lost or any other damage
> to your system or data that are due to the use of the Open-E trial
> version.
> 
> In order to use the DSS Demo-CD, 1 GB of main memory is required.
> 
> Open-E software trial CD instructions:
> 
> Download ISO-file of the software trial version from the Open-E
> Download Center.
> Burn the ISO-file on CD. Please make sure that you take the option
> "Burn ISO image"
> Install the CD-ROM as Primary-Master by plugging the CD-connection in
> the primary IDE slot
> Change the BIOS to boot from CD-ROM drive.
> Boot the system (the booting process may take several minutes)
> 
> NOTE: After 30 days the connection to the logical volumes are lost.
> This means that all data stored on the logical volumes are not
> accessible any more. If you decide to install a full version of the
> Open-E software on the test system, all data will be available again.
> 
> 

The important bit is there at the end, "Open-E honors the GPL. The GPL
sources are available here " whether this is true or not remains to be
seen; I am also downloading the source cd and will take a look.

The trial version will disable it's self after 30 days (according to the
site) but due to the licence (gpl) of the software I see no reason why
that can't be circumvented.

Alan 

On Thu, 2007-08-23 at 12:21 +0200, Dimitri Puzin wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> recently I've ran across open-e.com. I am wondering whether their
> products comply with the GPL since they seem to use a customized Debian
> distribution. I couldn't find sources or statements about use of GPL'd
> code in their products. I've took a glance at the provided iso. They
> clearly use a linux kernel. The userspace seem to be some kind of
> compressed/encrypted image on the CD.
> 
> max at nostromo:~$ sudo mount -t iso9660 -o loop,ro
> open-e-nas-key-c89cc331f4.iso /mnt
> max at nostromo:~$ cd /mnt
> max at nostromo:/mnt$ ls
> demo.oem  isolinux  relnotes.txt  update
> max at nostromo:/mnt$ cd isolinux/
> max at nostromo:/mnt/isolinux$ ls
> boot.cat  init  isolinux.bin  isolinux.cfg  vmlinuz
> max at nostromo:/mnt/isolinux$ file vmlinuz
> vmlinuz: Linux kernel x86 boot executable RO-rootFS, root_dev 0x802,
> swap_dev 0x2, Normal VGA
> max at nostromo:/mnt/isolinux$
> 
> I also did a portscan of the running server, with following result:
> 
> max at nostromo:~$ sudo nmap $ip -A
> 
> Starting Nmap 4.11 ( http://www.insecure.org/nmap/ ) at 2007-08-23 11:28
> CEST
> Interesting ports on $ip:
> Not shown: 1665 closed ports
> PORT     STATE SERVICE        VERSION
> 21/tcp   open  ftp            ProFTPD
> 80/tcp   open  http           Apache httpd 1.3.33 (Ben-SSL/1.55 (Debian
> GNU/Linux) PHP/5.2.0)
> 111/tcp  open  rpcbind         2 (rpc #100000)
> 139/tcp  open  netbios-ssn    Samba smbd 3.X (workgroup: WORKGROUP)
> 389/tcp  open  ldap            (Anonymous bind OK)
> 443/tcp  open  ssl/http       Apache httpd 1.3.33 (Ben-SSL/1.55 (Debian
> GNU/Linux) PHP/5.2.0)
> 445/tcp  open  netbios-ssn    Samba smbd 3.X (workgroup: WORKGROUP)
> 685/tcp  open  rpc.unknown
> 754/tcp  open  status          1 (rpc #100024)
> 888/tcp  open  accessbuilder?
> 894/tcp  open  mountd          1-3 (rpc #100005)
> 2049/tcp open  nfs             2-4 (rpc #100003)
> 6666/tcp open  irc-serv?
> 6667/tcp open  irc?
> 6668/tcp open  irc?
> Device type: general purpose
> Running: Linux 2.4.X|2.6.X
> OS details: Linux 2.4.6 - 2.4.26 or 2.6.9, Linux 2.6.5 - 2.6.11
> 
> Nmap finished: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 130.927 seconds
> 
> What do you think about it?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> -Dimitri Puzin
>