Yaffs Licence FAQs

Do we need a Licence for Yaffs ?

Yaffs is and will remain free of charge from our web site.  You can grab the latest version and work and test and play with it without charge.

It comes with a GNU General Public Public Licence, version 2,  : http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html   As usual with GPL work, if you sell or distribute work embodying Yaffs you also have an obligation to disclose your associated Source Code to anyone who asks.

What if we link other code to Yaffs ?

The GPL obligation is not affected by the kind of linking between Yaffs and any associated code, nor is it affected by your disclosure of modifications you make to the code and release back into the main line.  For example if you use Yaffs under GPL with Linux you should treat it just the same as Linux code; if you want to publish a patched kernel please do.

We do not want to disclose Source Code

Because Aleph One Limited created and owns Yaffs we can sell you a Licence to use Yaffs which does not have the GNU GPLV2 obligations.  Such a licence is always perpetual, world-wide, non-exclusive. and free of any continuing royalty obligations.  It is paid for by a single fee at the time of signing a Licence Agreement between you and Aleph One.

The fee depends on the number of distinct Products in which Yaffs will be used, and there is a base price of GBP £10,000.  If more than one Product is included in the same Licence there is usually a reduction in the second fee.

What do we do next ?

Tell us some more about the product you will use Yaffs in.  We like the Agreement to contain a brief description of the hardware involved and the part number or product name and any internal code name.  If you want us to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement before you give us these details, send it to us; we are used to signing them.  We can send you a standard form if you do not have one.

Then we will send a draft Agreement and price to you, and negotiate until we are both satisfied.  Next we each sign and exchange copies of the Agreement and you pay us.

What happens when we sign a Licence ?

When we have both signed a Licence Agreement and you have paid us we provide you with a tarball of files whose headers show that this code is under a proprietary Licence which you have bought from us.  You use these files to create the FS code you embed in your Products.

Is there more information about licensing?

Yes there is!