[sane-devel] FW: SANE back-end development

[Matthew Duggan]

On Thu, Dec 11, 2003 at 06:47:10PM -0800, David Chamberlin wrote:
> Does anyone know if it  is  possible to develop a binary distribution of a
> sane back-end that uses a proprietary protocols and  to distribute this
> back-end with sane-backends? 
> Can manufacturers that make only binary back-ends  advertise  "Supported by
> Sane" or "Runs on Linux"?

Hi,

There is no *technical* reason why this wouldn't be possible, so the
only consideration would be legalities.

My reading of the SANE exception to the GPL is that this is a 
reasonable thing to do (although most developers would not personally
approve).  However, the SANE exception is more drafted with binary-only
frontends (such as vuescan) in mind.  If in doubt get a lawyer to check
over it.

Epson already release a SANE-based binary frontend/backend pair:
http://www.epkowa.co.jp/english/linux_e/index.html

Cheers,

- Matthew Duggan