Formal Request for Open Source Code

Community Support
1

Please consider this a formal request for the open source source code related to your distribution of the Glowforge Basic, which I purchased and you have since delivered to me.

My request specifically includes the source code for any binary drivers included for the Linux kernel, any modifications to the Linux kernel, and any customized applications which were derived from or exist in a modified form of said open source software. This request also specifically includes the source for the various versions that have been distributed by you to me or installed on my device by you through regular automated updates.

As you are aware, many Free Open Source Software packages are covered by license terms that require a distributor, as Glowforge is, to include either source code or an offer for the source code with any product they distribute that contains said software packages.

I am unable to locate the source code, or any offer for the source code, among the materials delivered to me by you, or on any of the web pages related to the product.


Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this request.
20 Likes
2

Well this is just strange.

1 Like
3

Its a requirement of the license of most Open Source projects that when you release a product that contains binary versions of their software, or binaries that are derivatives of their code, that you must include the source or provide an offer to get a copy of the source.

I’m asking for them to comply with those terms, and provide me with the source. Pretty straight forward request for any product that uses Open Source software.

Pretty run of the mill, actually.

7 Likes
4

It’s not really. Many open source software packages and libraries require the source code to be made available when companies use them either directly or in derivative work. However, many companies won’t release any source code they’ve agreed to by usage of said open source libraries unless requested to.

However, it does assume that Glowforge is using such open source packages, libraries, etc., which they may not. Many companies will create their own code from scratch rather than use such licensed open source software and be beholden to releasing the source code.

Basically, IF glowforge has used code with such a license, they should provide the source code (which may be only for that component, however, and not the whole system). If they haven’t, they don’t actually have to release anything.

6 Likes
5

I can confirm that they are using Linux version 3.14.28 (as of firmware version 1.2.0-1021), which is covered by v2 of the GPL. It is the derived kernel driver they use to communicate with the hardware, along with any modifications to the kernel, that I am most interested in.

7 Likes
6

For those more interested in this discussion, there is quite a bit of background in a previous topic:

3 Likes
7

There is, but in that discussion I was primarily focused on @dan’s promise to release an open source version of the firmware. That is an entirely different topic than this request.

This request is specifically for the software they are required to release source for under the terms of that software’s license.

And to be clear, I am only asking for small subset of the required source code. There is much more that they are using.

This is a Copyright String dump via binwalk from their latest firmware:

0x3415CC Copyright CNRI, All Rights Reserved. NO WARRANTY.
0x35050E Copyright CNRI, All Rights Reserved. NO WARRANTY.
0x359512 Copyright CNRI, All Rights Reserved. NO WARRANTY.
0x35C4F2 Copyright CNRI, All Rights Reserved. NO WARRANTY.
0x35C528 Copyright 2000 Guido van Rossum.
0x36CC51 Copyright CNRI, All Rights Reserved. NO WARRANTY.
0x37B931 Copyright CNRI, All Rights Reserved. NO WARRANTY.
0x3DE407 Copyright 2000 by Timothy O’Malley timo@alum.mit.edu
0x411C67 Copyright (c) 1998-2001 by Secret Labs AB. All rights reserved.
0x41AD68 Copyright (c) 1999-2000, Marc-Andre Lemburg; mailto:mal@lemburg.com
0x41ADB0 Copyright (c) 2000-2010, eGenix.com Software GmbH; mailto:info@egenix.com
0x440242 Copyright (c) 1997-2001 by Secret Labs AB. All rights reserved.
0x55EE00 Copyright (C) 2003-2010 Thomas Graf tgraf@redhat.com
0x591C68 Copyright (C) 1991-2014 The libjpeg-turbo Project and many others
0x5D1817 Copyright (C) 2003-2008 Jean Delvare jdelvare@suse.de
0x65F07A Copyright (C) 2003-2006 Red Hat, Inc.
0x65F0A0 Copyright (C) 2006 Thiago Macieira
0x6942A7 Copyright (C) 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0x69AD27 Copyright (C) 2009-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0x69B54F Copyright (C) 2009-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0x69BA37 Copyright (C) 2007-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0x69C1F7 Copyright (C) 2007-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0x69C723 Copyright (C) 2009-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0x69C8EB Copyright (C) 2009-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0x69CA8B Copyright (C) 2009-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0x69CC2B Copyright (C) 2007-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0x725C24 Copyright (C) 2001 Carl D. Worth
0x725C98 Copyright (C) 1995 Ian Jackson. This version of
0x76F017 Copyright (C) 2004-2008 Jean Delvare jdelvare@suse.de
0x76F077 Copyright (C) 2003-2004 Jean Delvare
0x76F0ED Copyright (C) 1998-2004 Mark D. Studebaker
0x76F154 Copyright (C) 2002 James Simmons jsimmons@users.sf.net
0x7740A8 Copyright (C) 1997, 2013 Werner Koch
0x775046 Copyright 1998, 1999 Philip Edelbrock phil@netroedge.com
0x7750EC Copyright (C) 2005-2013 Jean Delvare jdelvare@suse.de
0x7B27F8 Copyright (C) 2006 Red Hat, Inc.
0x7C5C17 Copyright (C) 2002-2008 Jean Delvare jdelvare@suse.de
0x866CC0 Copyright (c) 2013-15 Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
0x89F1E4 Copyright (C) 2003 Red Hat, Inc.
0x89F205 Copyright (C) 2002 Michael Meeks
0x8A01B2 Copyright (c) 2013, Marcel Hellkamp.
0x90F9B8 Copyright (C) 2002, 2003 Red Hat, Inc., CodeFactory AB, and others
0x91CB1A Copyright (C) 2003 Red Hat, Inc.
0x9A2167 Copyright (C) 1970-2014 The University of Delaware, all rights reserved.
0x9B47DA Copyright (C) 1999-2014 Bruce Korb, all rights reserved.
0x9B5014 Copyright (C) 1999-2014 by Bruce Korb - all rights reserved
0x9C4659 Copyright (c) 2004-2016, Jouni Malinen j@w1.fi and contributors
0x9CA017 Copyright (C) 2007-2012 Jean Delvare jdelvare@suse.de
0xA895B0 Copyright (c) 2002-2016, Jouni Malinen j@w1.fi and contributors
0xACA497 Copyright (C) 2012, Texas Instruments Inc.
0xAFE02C Copyright (c) 2003 Fumitoshi UKAI ukai@debian.or.jp
0xAFE064 Copyright (c) 2009 Philipp Kern pkern@debian.org
0xC00488 Copyright (c) 2003-2016, Jouni Malinen j@w1.fi and contributors
0xC1BC3D Copyright (c) 2004-2016, Jouni Malinen j@w1.fi and contributors
0xC301FF Copyright (c) 2003 by Stefano Barbato - All rights reserved.
0xC30978 Copyright (c) 2003 by Stefano Barbato - All rights reserved.
0xC320B8 Copyright (C) 1987-2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0xC3303F Copyright (C) 1987-2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0xC33CC5 Copyright (C) 1999 Jeff Solomon
0xC350B8 Copyright (C) 1987-2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0xC3605B Copyright (C) 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0xC39CD3 Copyright (C) 1987-2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0xC3A839 Copyright (C) 1987-2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0xC3B43F Copyright (C) 1987-2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0xC3E04B Copyright (C) 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0xC3F451 Copyright (C) 1987-2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0xC40441 Copyright (C) 1987-2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0xCB9088 Copyright (C) {2011} Texas Instruments Incorporated - http://www.ti.com/
0xCE08EB Copyright (C) {2011} Texas Instruments Incorporated - http://www.ti.com/
0x2429E47 Copyright 1995-2013 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler
0x242B2C3 Copyright 1995-2013 Mark Adler
0x249E66D Copyright (C) 2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0x2A3047C Copyright (C) 2009, Canonical Ltd.
0x2B6D8D7 Copyright (C) 2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
0x5818BCA Copyright CNRI, All Rights Reserved. NO WARRANTY.
0x582486E Copyright CNRI, All Rights Reserved. NO WARRANTY.
0x59BBB78 Copyright (c) 2001-2014 Python Software Foundation.
0x59BBBC2 Copyright (c) 2000 BeOpen.com.
0x59BBBF7 Copyright (c) 1995-2001 Corporation for National Research Initiatives.
0x59BBC54 Copyright (c) 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam.
0x59CA417 Copyright (c) 1997-2002 by Secret Labs AB

7 Likes
8

3.14.28? That’s almost three years old and 3.14.x is no longer maintained. I’d expect them to be using a version with long-term support, e.g., 3.16.x.

9

That’s the message at boot time with the current firmware:

Linux version 3.14.28+ga1cf972 (root@d6a19bff39b1) (gcc version 4.9.2 (GCC) ) #7

On v0.0.1-959 firmware it was the same, but reporting SMP PREEMPT:

Linux version 3.14.28+ga1cf972 (root@d6a19bff39b1) (gcc version 4.9.2 (GCC) ) #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Aug 5 02:36:18 UTC 2017

1 Like
10

I meant it’s strange to make this “formal request” by posting on the forum. The tone of the whole thing also just seems to be a thinly-veiled threat of legal action if they don’t immediately respond to your satisfaction. Maybe it’s just me.

5 Likes
11

Glowforge has not provided any method of requesting this information. They state elsewhere that the best forms of contact are email or the forum via this category.

As this request is of interest to many more people than myself, I am making it in the forum.

To be certain, I do not have any recourse if they choose to ignore me.
I am merely requesting it. They can tell me to go pound sand.

(Though, the actual holders of the copyrights could seek recourse as they (GF) have likely already failed to abide by the license agreements by not including an offer for the source with the product. But, that is between those parties, and has nothing to with me.)

9 Likes
12

If I had a formal request to make of a company, concerning legally-binding agreements that they seemingly failed to abide by, I would probably start with an email. I understand this is something that interests multiple people, but it seems like more of a callout/threat rather than a friendly gesture to help out fellow forum members.

1 Like
13

It is not.

There, now there is no longer any ambiguity about my intentions.

1 Like
14

Well that changes everything.

15

Glad we could get past that.

3 Likes
16

Stating your intentions isn’t magic; therefore, what you have said doesn’t change the reasonable perception of what is going on here.

17

Well, in actuality, my intentions here are pretty clear. I am asking for source code.

If you, or anyone else, has a manner of going about it that you would prefer, you are welcome to take that path.

You are also free to not continue to read this thread if it somehow offends you.

8 Likes
18

I didn’t see any indication that she was offended. She was simply explaining what my sarcasm failed to convey to you. The way you presented your request for the source code seemed to be more of a demand/threat, despite your later statement that it was not.

19

I have no control over how you or others perceive the things I say. I can only state what it is I am saying, despite your belief to the contrary.

You’re entitled to your interpretations. I am merely telling you that, in this case, they are dead wrong.

3 Likes
20

Interestingly enough — communication is not just about Throwing sounds or symbols out into the world to fall where they may. It is about endeavoring to accurately and correctly convey the information we wish to put out there. If what we have put out conveys a message other than what we intended, the failure lies on the part of the communicator as the active part of the process, and not on the recipient(s) who hear/read/ recieve the communication.