Software of open-e.com respects GPL?

[Dimitri Puzin]

cryptoforge schrieb:
> Hi,
Hi all,

> Coincidentally I looked into this recently as well. You won't find
> anything about the sources or GPL (except for the 'open-e honours the
> GPL' message), unless you login to download the trial CD.
> Then the source CD just contains source tarballs of all components they
> use, but no build scripts or instructions for creating a distribution.
> Since the distribution as a whole does not need to GPLed I guess they
> don't have to do so. 
> So, they appear to do just the bare minimum to be legally GPL compliant,
> but stay far from the spirit of the GPL. 'honours the GPL', mwah...
> Unless they contribute to linux, iscsitarget or other components behind
> the scenes, I'd label them a parasite, even if GPL compliant.
> BTW in this presentation
> http://svn.gnumonks.org/trunk/presentation/2004/gpl-revisited-knf2004/gpl-enforcement-knf2004.pdf
> Harald Welter mentions Open-E in the 'cases so far' list. So 'The GPL
> Enforcer' has already knocked on their door :-)
Thanks for your answers. Now the situation is more clear to me :)

> 
> Regards,
> 
> Bastiaan
Regards,
-Dimitri Puzin

> 
> PS. Why not use OpenFiler instead of Open-E's stuff? 
We're looking for different SAN/NAS products/projects for a corporate
production environment and testing solutions we could find on the net.

>    
>  
> On Thu, 2007-08-23 at 15:20 +0200, mrintegrity wrote:
>> 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
>>>
> 
>