Question about licensing of sensor fusion library

[remibeges]

Hello,

I intend to use the sensor fusion library on a personnal project, but I have a question abouit licensing. The sensor fusion library is open-source and I believe the code is hosted there (Please correct me if I'm wrong) :

https://github.com/memsindustrygroup/Open-Source-Sensor-Fusion

When using this library in CodeWarrior to develop on a freedom board (KL26Z), it is recommended to use the project templates available here : http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/overview.jsp?code=XTRSICSNSTLBOX

Now, after configuring the project, I was surprised to see the actual source code of the library in there, and not just header files and a library (.dll, or.a) containing the implementation in binary form.

Indeed, my issue is with the licensing of the library. Indeed, it says, in driver.h for instance

Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions [...]

Does that mean that any code I will build on top of the sensor fusion library will also be subject to this notice ? And thus my code will need to be open-source, no way for proprietary code ?

I believe it does, because for now it hosts the library source code, it is not an external dependency, and by such must not break licensing terms of the library.

Thank you for clarifying this.

Regards

PS : Not sure Kinetis Microcontrollers is the right place for posting this topic, please admin feel free to move it somewhere more appropriate

[michaelestanley · Accepted solution]

Remi,

No, your code does not need to be open source if you use our library.  But if you redistribute source, it should keep our Copyright.  If you redistribute it in library form, your documentation should include the Copyright.  Fielded applications have no restrictions.  Freescale chose this particular license because we wanted to avoid the situation you were concerned about (requiring users of the library to also open source their content).

We appreciate (but don't require) hearing about applications which include the library.  But that is strictly for our own personal gratification :smileywink:.

Regards,

Mike

[remibeges]

Thank you Michael for your answer.

However, I still find this approach an issue for open source projects. Indeed, the user must put his code mainly inside the user_tasks.c file (Open-Source-Sensor-Fusion/user_tasks.c at master · memsindustrygroup/Open-Source-Sensor-Fusion · Git... ), which is licensed as part of this library and thus copyrighted by Freescale.

Thus, any code produced by an user of the library will necessary be copyrighted by Freescale. This user will not retain copyright on its own code.

Please correct if I'm wrong.

That's wrong indeed, sorry about that (see License compatibility article on wikipedia for instance). I'll mark topic as closed

Regards

[michaelestanley]

Remi,

Retaining our copyright doesn't preclude you from adding your own to any new content you add.  Freescale will make no claims on code you develop.

We are trying to enable re-use, not stifle it.  Our intent in requiring retention of Copyright is composed of one part "pride of creation" and one part desire to build brand awareness for Freescale.

FYI, I led the engineering team that developed this library, and I personally added the open source license to the files after detailed consultation with Freescale management.  So you can be confident you are getting unfiltered information.  Please feel free to reuse the library.

Best regards,

Mike