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You may have heard recently of the Remix OS, a fork of Android that targets desktop computing. The operating system, which was created by former Google employees and features a traditional desktop layout in addition to the ability to run Android apps, was previewed on Ars Technica a few weeks ago, but it was not actually released for end-users to download until earlier this week.
Now that Remix OS has been released, The Linux Homefront Project is reporting that the Android-based operating system, for which source code is not readily available, violates both the GPL and the Apache License. The RemixOS installer includes a "Remix OS USB Tool" that is really a re-branded copy of popular disk imaging tool UNetbootin, which falls under the GPL. Additionally, browsing through the install image files reveals that the operating system is based on the Apache Licensed Android-x86 project. From the article:
Output is absolutely clear – no differences! No authors, no changed files, no trademarks, just copy-paste development.
Is this a blatant disregard for the GPL and Apache licenses by an optimistic startup, or were the authors too eager to release that they forgot to provide access to the repo?
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Tuesday January 19 2016, @12:16AM
It's a pretty clear violation, but I suspect it is out of laziness or ignorance rather than malice. The way you would fix this problem is to make a meticulous list of all GPL software included, and either provide a link to the source code hosted online or include the sources yourself. Much like writing documentation, it's not a trivial amount of work, and given we are talking about former Google employees, they might just be ignorant of software licenses from their ivory tower.
Putting your software into an OS does not make the OS a derivative work [lawyer citation needed]. Rule of thumb: a derivative software work includes the original work during compilation. If you have some modifications that are compiled together with original code as one, then you need to abide by the distribution requirements of the GPL. Sticking a bunch of GPL software into one OS does not; in this case you need only make available the source code for the GPL components, not any glue software or the entire OS.
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