doc update: add legal notes

from a long time ago:
http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/mingw-cross-env-list/2011-03/msg00107.html

1 files changed, 163 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index 17cd676..0ef9741 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@
         <li><a href="#packages"         >List of Packages</a></li>
         <li><a href="#creating-packages">Creating Packages</a></li>
         <li><a href="#copyright"        >Copyright</a></li>
+        <li><a href="#legal"            >Legal</a></li>
         <li><a href="#history"          >History</a></li>
     </ul>
     <ul>
@@ -2270,7 +2271,8 @@ local-pkg-list: $(LOCAL_PKG_LIST)</pre>
         <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">free</a>
         <a href="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines">software</a>
         <a href="http://www.opensource.org/osd.html">library</a>
-        that is really used by one of your applications.
+        that is really used by one of your applications. Please also review our
+        <a href="#legal">legal notes</a>.
         </p>
 
         <p>
@@ -2567,6 +2569,166 @@ endef</pre>
 </div>
 
 <div class="section">
+<h2 id="legal">Legal</h2>
+
+    <h3>Disclaimer - it's all code...</h3>
+
+    <p>
+    Modern legal systems are like any other large, complex, and evolving body
+    of code you're likely to encounter.
+    </p>
+
+    <p>
+    They have their own language with quirky parsers, compilers, and
+    interpreters (though these tend to be human). Their issue trackers are
+    a backlog of court cases. They have bugs. They have traps for the
+    uninitiated that may potentially do more than waste your time.
+    </p>
+
+    <p>
+    We currently limit ourselves to:
+    </p>
+    <pre>--enable-languages='c,c++,objc,fortran'</pre>
+    <p>
+    so nothing mentioned here or on the mailing list should be taken as
+    legal advice. :-)
+    </p>
+
+    <h3>Choosing the right compiler</h3>
+
+    <p>
+    The best starting point for any legal questions would be the
+    </p>
+    <p>
+    <a href="http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/">FTF (Freedom Task Force of the FSFE (Free Software Foundation Europe)).</a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+    They have been very helpful in the past, and maintain an
+    <a href="http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/network.en.html">extensive network</a>
+    of legal contacts, both within and outside Europe.
+    </p>
+
+    <p>Your local jurisdiction may be a signatory to various
+    <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_international_copyright_agreements">international agreements,</a>
+    so be sure to mention where you are in any correspondence (much like any
+    detailed bug report really).
+    </p>
+
+    <p>Additionally, you should also do some background reading from the
+    <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLIncompatibleLibs">FSF (Free Software Foundation)</a>
+    and
+    <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Lesser_General_Public_License">Wikipedia</a>
+    to familiarise yourself with some of the potential issues (and experience
+    some context-switching overhead).
+    </p>
+
+    <h3 id="contributions">Contributions</h3>
+
+    <p>
+    Contributions are always welcome!
+    </p>
+
+    <p>
+    Ownership of all contributions (bug fixes, new packages, doc updates, etc.)
+    remain with the author. All we require is a real name (no l33t handles,
+    please), and that you release your work under
+    <a href="#copyright">our licence</a>.
+    </p>
+
+    <p>If you prefer not to be credited with a contribution, please notify
+    the committer.
+    </p>
+
+    <h3 id="package-licenses">Package Licences</h3>
+
+    <p>
+    Each package is individually licensed under terms specified by the
+    authors of that package. Please see the respective source tarball
+    and/or project website for details.
+    </p>
+
+    <p>
+    Packages that are
+    <a href="http://www.audiocoding.com/faac.html">non-free</a>
+    or
+    <a href="http://glaros.dtc.umn.edu/gkhome/metis/metis/faq#distribute">ambiguous</a>
+    will be
+    <a href="http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/mingw-cross-env-list/2010-12/msg00049.html">removed</a>
+    or
+    <a href="http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/mingw-cross-env-list/2010-09/msg00063.html">rejected</a>.
+    </p>
+
+    <p>
+    The definition of free must be one of:
+    <ul>
+    <li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">The Free Software Definition</a></li>
+    <li><a href="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines">The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)</a></li>
+    <li><a href="http://www.opensource.org/osd.html">The Open Source Definition</a></li>
+    </ul>
+    </p>
+
+    <p>
+    Please contact the
+    <a href="http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/mingw-cross-env-list">mailing list</a>
+    if you notice a package that doesn't meet these guidlines.
+    </p>
+
+    <h3 id="other-legal-considerations">Other Considerations</h3>
+
+    <p>
+    In addition to the usual considerations (copyrights, patents,
+    trademarks, export regulations etc.), building
+    <a href="http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/mingw-cross-env-list/2010-12/msg00025.html">statically linked</a>
+    libraries
+    <a href="http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/mingw-cross-env-list/2011-02/msg00018.html">for Windows</a>
+    exposes some edge cases that you may not have encountered before.
+    </p>
+
+    <p>
+    According to
+    <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">freedom 0</a> and our
+    <a href="#copyright">own licence</a>,
+    you can use mxe in countless different
+    environments, each with it's own special legal considerations. The
+    configuration options of certain packages (e.g ffmpeg) allow the use of
+    non-free software and/or combinations that cause license violations.
+    </p>
+
+    <p>
+    For these packages, we will provide sensible defaults aimed
+    at achieving the following goals:
+    <ol>
+        <li>avoid causing inherent licensing issues with conflicting options</li>
+        <li>make the package as feature complete as possible</li>
+    </ol>
+    </p>
+
+    <p>
+    Note that this does not prevent downstream violations, or affect any
+    further obligations a licence may impose on you.
+    </p>
+
+    <h3 id="potential-legal-issues">Potential Issues - Non Exhaustive List</h3>
+
+    <h4>LGPL and Static Linking</h4>
+
+    <p>
+    Review the
+    <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Lesser_General_Public_License#Differences_from_the_GPL">Differences from the GPL</a>
+    section of the Wikipedia article mentioned above.
+    </p>
+
+    <h4>GPL and OpenSSL</h4>
+
+    <p>
+    See conflicting accounts from the
+    <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#OpenSSL">FSF</a>
+    and the
+    <a href="http://www.openssl.org/support/faq.html#LEGAL2">OpenSSL project</a>.
+    </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
 <h2 id="history">History</h2>
 
     <dl>