Hi everyone,
I'm asking here but I believed that I should ask someone at NXP directly at some point.
So here it goes! I'm using the Kinetis Design Studio on my Linux machine, with a Manjaro Linux as main OS (an Arch Linux derivative).
In this OS paradigm, packages that are not in the official repositories can be added by users directly to what is known as AUR (Arch User Repository).
To push a package to AUR, you just need to write a PKGBUILD file that specifies the way the package is downloaded, built and installed on the system.
I also created a LICENSE file that takes the standard NXP license present on the website when you want to download the installer (more on that part later on).
I wrote such a file for my own installation on my system. Now, I was wondering if there was any way I could upload this to the Arch User Repository, allowing and improving the access to other persons who would use it from Arch Linux.
There are several challenges ahead (those that I saw, maybe there are more!):
- I can put a link to point directly at the resource on the website and download it without any form of license check. (which means people can directly download the file without agreeing explicitly to the license on the website. I'm not sure whether this feature is intentional or a bug?). Does the license granted to me by NXP allows this? I couldn't find anything in there that would prevent me not to.
- A LICENSE file can be provided with the PKGBUILD file. Installing the package from the PKGBUILD means the user agrees with the license. I do not have in place a system in the PKGBUILD where I could tell the user "You have to read the LICENSE file located here and you agree to its terms by using this program". In NXP view, would that be enough regarding the granting of their license to the user?
Several details:
I'm willing to act as the maintainer of this package in the AUR should it be published in any way. (which means I'll update the files anytime a new version is published)
I also can have the PKGBUILD published without downloading the package from NXP website. This means users will have to download the *.rpm package from NXP's website directly (in the case of my first point above, where I can't link the file directly).
So, what do you think? I think these are more legal questions than technical ones, so you can delete this post if it's not appropriate (though I'd like to have a contact at NXP to explain this and see what their position is and can be or can not be done).
Cheers,
Romain
