diff --git a/enforcement-case-studies.tex b/enforcement-case-studies.tex index 02edaaec26f2b67de624a2804ac3b2420ed3d6d6..cec9431edf230ee14f6b42344898faf19e13ae79 100644 --- a/enforcement-case-studies.tex +++ b/enforcement-case-studies.tex @@ -240,8 +240,44 @@ requests, and in this course, we examine four specific examples of such compliance work. % FIXME: make this section properly TeX-formatted -\chapter{ThinkPenguin Wireless Router: A study in Excellent CCS} - +\chapter{ThinkPenguin Wireless Router: Excellent CCS} + +Too often, case studies examine failure and mistakes. Indeed, most of the +chapters that follow herein will consider the myriad difficulties discovered +in community-oriented GPL enforcement for the last two decades. However, to +begin, we offer a study in how copyleft compliance done correctly. + +This example is, in fact, more than ten years in the making. Since almost +the inception of for-profit corporate adoption of Free Software, companies +have requested a clear example of a model citizen to emulate. Sadly, while +community-oriented enforcers have vetted uncounted thousands of CCS +candidates from hundreds of companies, the CCS release describes the first +one CCS experts have declared a ``pristine example''. + +% FIXME: link to a ``CCS iteration'' discussion in compliance-guide.tex when +% one exists. (the ``iteration process'' is discussed in~\ref{} of this guide) + +Of course, most CCS examined for the last decade has (eventually) complied +with the GPL, perhaps after many iterations of review by the enforcer. +However, in the experience of the two primary community-oriented enforcers, +Conservancy and the FSF, such CCS results routinely fix the description of +``barely complies with GPL's requirements''. To use an academic analogy: +while a ``C'' is certainly a passing grade, any instructor prefers to +disseminate to the class a exemplar sample that earned an ``A''. + +Fortunately, thanks in large part to the industry pressure of the FSF's +``Respects Your Freedom'' (RYF) certification campaign\footnote{\href{RYF is + a campaign by FSF to certify products that truly meet the principles of + software freedom}. Products must meet + \href{http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/criteria}{strict + standards for RYF certification}, and among them is a pristine example of + CCS\@}, electronics products have begun to appear on the market that are +held to a higher standard of copyleft compliance. As such, for the first +time in the history of copyleft, CCS experts have pristine examples to study +and present as exemplars worthy of emulation. + +This case study therefore examines the entire life-cycle of a GPL compliance +investigation: from product purchase, to source request, to CCS review. This case study does a step-by-step build and installation analysis of one of the best Complete, Corresponding Source (CCS) releases we've seen. The CSS release studied here was provided for the binary distribution of a