NexentaStor GPL Violations [rt.gpl-violations.org #1987]

[Andrew Bingham]

Hi List,

Nexenta Systems, the company that started the Nexenta OS Solaris
Kernel + GNU Toolchain project, has created a commercial product based
on Nexenta OS, the "Nexenta Storage Appliance".

The homepage for this commercial effort is http://www.nexenta.com/corp/

They are currently distributing binary copies of the NSA in the form
of a VMware image at
http://www.nexenta.com/corp/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=74.
 They have also distributed versions that can install directly on
hardware to "select beta testers".

Documentation is available in the form of a Quick Start Guide, Users
Manual, and "White Paper" at
http://www.nexenta.com/corp/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=50&Itemid=72.

There are "Terms of Use" and "Trademarks & Copyrights " pages at
http://www.nexenta.com/corp/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33
and http://www.nexenta.com/corp/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34

I have identified the following GPL violations:
-No verbatim copy of the GPL is present anywhere on the web site, in
the documentation, or inside the .zip file which contains the binary
VMware images.
--Nowhere is it actually identified what portions of the software fall
under the GPL license, or even made clear that the NSA images contains
GPL license software
-No written offer of source code (for download or on a CD or other
customary storage media) for the GPL portions of the software is made
anywhere in any of the available documentation
-Source code for the present and all previous versions of the NSA
which have been distributed online is not available

I e-mailed the Nexenta Systems technical support address asking for
the source code of all GPLed portions of the binaries which they are
currently distributed.  They pointed me to the Nexenta OS SVN
repositories twice, and then stopped replying to my emails (apologies
for quoting a large string of emails, but I feel it is shows their
attitude towards compliance with the GPL):

> Received: by 10.86.90.14 with HTTP; Sun, 25 Nov 2007 21:38:15 -0800 (PST)
> Message-ID: <4bc689040711252138r2763afaaw46154c491b02f117 at mail.gmail.com>
> Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2007 21:38:15 -0800
> From: "Andrew Bingham" <abingham at gmail.com>
> To: support at nexenta.com
>
> Where can I obtain the sources+patches for the GPL portions of NexentaStor
> 0.99.2?
>
> Thanks,
>
> -Andrew
>


> Delivered-To: abingham at gmail.com
> Received: by 10.86.90.14 with SMTP id n14cs399906fgb;
> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:52:04 -0800 (PST)
> Received: by 10.100.249.9 with SMTP id w9mr4408086anh.1196099524006;
> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:52:04 -0800 (PST)
> Return-Path: <support at nexenta.com>
>
>
> Hi Andrew,
>
> NexentaStor is built on top of NCP. http://www.nexenta.org
>
> All components available as a part of NCP, both binaries and sources.
>
> Example: we are using DBus + our modifications => could be obtained from
> the gnusolaris.org SVN and soon from nexenta.org.
>
> However, integration and management applications are close sourced.
>
> Regards.


> Received: by 10.86.90.14 with HTTP; Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:28:14 -0800 (PST)
> Message-ID: <4bc689040711261228l15fc38efq2a4fb6f10f08dba3 at mail.gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:28:14 -0800
> From: "Andrew Bingham" <abingham at gmail.com>
> To: "Nexenta Systems" <support at nexenta.com>
>
>
> I understand the SVN repository is available, however what I am
> looking for is a complete set of the GPL licensed code used in the
> compilation of the NexentaStor 0.99.2 VMWare binaries currently being
> distributed on your website.
>
> -Andrew
>

> Delivered-To: abingham at gmail.com
> Received: by 10.86.90.14 with SMTP id n14cs406684fgb;
> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:15:20 -0800 (PST)
> Received: by 10.114.199.1 with SMTP id w1mr1194675waf.1196111710642;
> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:15:10 -0800 (PST)
> Return-Path: <support at nexenta.com>
>
>
> http://www.nexenta.org/apt/dists/{stable,testing,unstable}/{main,contrib,non-free}/source/*
>
> Example:
>
> http://www.nexenta.org/apt/dists/testing/main/source/libs/gdbm_1.8.3-2.tar.gz
>
> Regards.
>

> Received: by 10.86.90.14 with HTTP; Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:51:09 -0800 (PST)
> Message-ID: <4bc689040711261551y5949ff7dt5cef00c5c15a158e at mail.gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:51:09 -0800
> From: "Andrew Bingham" <abingham at gmail.com>
> To: "Nexenta Systems" <support at nexenta.com>
> Subject: Re: NexentaStor 0.99.2 GPL Portion Sources/Patches
>
>
> I don't understand how that constitutes the "complete and corresponding"
> source code for the GPLed portions of the NexentaStor 0.99.2 binary
> distribution, which you are required to distribute under clause 3 of the
> GPL. There are multiple versions of the packages in the repository, and I
> have no way of knowing which packages were actually used at compile time or
> how they were configured.
>
>

I have not received a reply to my last email;  not even a "we are
putting it together for you" or "it will be available".

The NexentaStor product is receiving significant press all over the
internet for being the first commercial solution to use ZFS.  I find
it disturbing that they are doing so by violating the copyrights of
the FSF, Debian contributers, and anyone else whose GPLed code has
gone into the versions of NexentaStor that are currently available.  I
also believe it is highly likely that there are additional violations
present in their closed source "integration and management
applications".

-Andrew