AW: Re: [Nagios-users] Nagios 3.0,natively windows codes,support mysql,support agentless monitor , new web interface,more,Greatly

[Andreas Ericsson]

Marc Powell wrote:
> 
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: nagios-devel-admin at lists.sourceforge.net [mailto:nagios-devel-
>>admin at lists.sourceforge.net] On Behalf Of Andreas Ericsson
>>Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 5:03 PM
>>To: nagios-devel at lists.sourceforge.net
>>Subject: Re: [Nagios-devel] Re: AW: Re: [Nagios-users] Nagios
> 
> 3.0,natively
> 
>>windows codes,support mysql,support agentless monitor , new web
>>interface,more,Greatly
>>
>>Thomas Mitchell wrote:
>>
>>>excuse me. but isnt OP5 is doing the same.
>>
>>
>>Nopes. We're selling a packaged solution based on opensource. The fact
>>that it *is* opensource is actually a salespitch, because customers
>>don't have to worry about company continuity.
> 
> 
> He may have a point. I'm not a GPL guru but section 2.b looks pretty
> clear --
> 
> 2.  You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of
> it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and distribute
> such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided
> that you also meet all of these conditions:
> 
>     b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in
> whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part
> thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties
> under the terms of this License.
> 
> I can't seem to find a publicly accessible download link for the
> modified program (or any part that contains Nagios code) on op5.se nor
> any specific directions on how to obtain a copy of the code. It's the
> same reason that RedHat (and the like) must provide the source code for
> Red Hat Enterprise Linux. They may sell it but they didn't create it in
> it's entirety and must abide by the GPL.
> 

That's because we don't sell a modified copy. We package the unmodified 
copy with proprietary addons, like a webgui for configuration, a little 
something for traphandling and syslog handling, a "clever" skin-based 
notification script (I've been meaning to make that one public, but 
haven't gotten around to asking yet). Those addons use none of the GPL'd 
code so it's quite alright to have other licenses for them.

We're having a lawyer investigate if nebmodules must be GPL right now. 
If they do, I'll release a couple of good ones later on.

> 
>>Besides that, I've submitted some 30-odd patches back to nagios (core
>>project, don't get me started on the plugins) for bugfixes, new
> 
> features
> 
>>and what not, and I'm always keen on beta-testing new stuff so that it
>>can go stable as soon as possible.
> 
> 
> It's appreciated, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't release anyone from
> the requirements of the GPL. If I've mis-interpreted or overlooked
> something, please let me know.
> 

We've had lawyers look at it. Since we don't modify the nagios source, 
we have no obligation to provide it for download. We DO modify the 
plugins. Our modified plugins are available for download from 
http://oss.op5.se/nagios which is where we post everything that has to 
do with Nagios and is touched by us one way or another.

I've tried numerous times to get our patches through to the nagiosplug 
project but it has taken too long to get them applied. In the end the 
amount of patches became overwhelming, so now I won't merge them with 
the official distro unless I get commit-access to the cvs. It's simply 
too much work to provide the patches, and it's worth absolutely nothing 
to me.

Some of the source-packages we modify are available for download through 
the Openwall GNU/*/Linux distro. They saw the use of making me a core 
maintainer quite promptly, so the effort I put in isn't wasted for them 
and I get a free peer review (from competent coders, I might add. The 
plugins aren't exactly stellar in quality).

-- 
Andreas Ericsson                   andreas.ericsson at op5.se
OP5 AB                             www.op5.se
Lead Developer


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