[sane-devel] Please give me some help to solve the license issues in using sane

[Johannes Meixner]

Hello,

On Jun 5 15:55 Daniel Glöckner wrote (shortened):
> It may sound naive, but usually a scanner driver just needs to write some
> registers and accept the incoming image data.
> I don't see what needs to be hidden in that process.
...
> Maybe it is possible to make your driver compile with a reduced set of
> functionality that doesn't need those closed source modules.
...
> If you want to implement image processing algorithms (dust removal,
> ICC profiles, descreening), don't. This should be done in frontends.
...
> While it is nice to talk to developers that want to respect the GPL in their
> commercial products, it would be better if we can avoid having to find a
> compromise by convincing those that object an open source approach.

Many thanks to point this out!

Of course I fully agree!

Unfortunately according to my experience with printer manufacturers
they make very often the mistake that they like to provide a single
big-and-fat-all-in-one-full-featured driver monster instead of well
seperated parts.

Compare
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Information_for_Printer_Manufacturers_Regarding_Linux_Support

The ideas behind are exactly the same for printers and scanners
but unfortunately (I have no idea why) only a few manufacturers
seem to understand the enormous benefit of free drivers:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The advantage for the ... manufacturer is that he will
receive comprehensive Linux support for his devices
* in all products ...
* on all hardware platforms ...
* for new versions of the products ...
without any extra expenses for the ... manufacturer. 
-------------------------------------------------------------------

But also note the ZJStream example.
Here the license issue is directly related to the low-level
protocol how to send raw data to a ZJStream printer.


Kind Regards
Johannes Meixner
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