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CERN Open Hardware Licence
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\documentclass[10pt, a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[hidelinks, colorlinks=true, linkcolor=blue, urlcolor=blue,
citecolor=blue]{hyperref}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\usepackage[linewidth=1pt]{mdframed}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{draftwatermark}
\SetWatermarkText{DRAFT}
\SetWatermarkScale{5}
\title{CERN Open Hardware Licence Version 2 - Strongly Reciprocal \\ User Guide}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\section{Introduction}
This document contains guidelines on how to apply the CERN-OHL-S v2 to a given
hardware design, and on the use of hardware designs licensed under the
CERN-OHL-S v2. This means we will be talking to you sometimes as a licensor, and
other times as a licensee.
As a licensor, there are many ways in which you can make it clear to your
licensees that you are sharing your designs under the licence. These guidelines
are only to be taken as advice, illustrating some ways in which we think this
can be done efficiently.
In order to help you distinguish between your obligations as a licensee and our
suggestions to you as a licensor, we will use the word `rule' for the former and
the word `suggestion' for the latter. Any perceived contradiction between these
guidelines and the licence text should of course be resolved in favour of the
licence text.
\section{How to apply CERN-OHL-S v2 to a hardware design}
\subsection{Pre-requisite}
Authorship/ownership of the design must be clear and undisputed. Only the legal
owner of the rights in the hardware design may decide under what conditions to
make it available. If ownership is vested in more than one person/entity, there
must be an agreement among the owners (or a chain of compatible licences from
each of them) to release the hardware design as open hardware, and under the
CERN-OHL-S v2 in particular.
\subsection{Your sources}
\label{subsec:your-sources}
Nowadays most designers who intend to share their work do so by hosting their
design files (sources) in a publicly-accessible repository using version-control
systems such as git. The sites hosting these repositories usually provide users
with the convenience of downloading a whole repository as a compressed (e.g.
zip) file. This is a very effective way of working: it makes it easier for you
to receive feedback, shows your users the complete history of the project and
allows them to easily start using it and contributing improvements.
\begin{enumerate}[label=\textbf{\ref*{subsec:your-sources}.1}]
\item \textbf{Suggestion: } try to host your design in a publicly-accessible
repository using version control. If that is not possible, compress your whole
directory structure into one file and publish that file, so users get your
whole project in one go.
\end{enumerate}
If you goal is to share, it makes sense to provide enough information to users
about the contents of the design package they download, and to make it easy for
them to browse that information. For example, if you have designed your hardware
using proprietary tools, maybe people who download the design files will not
have access to the tools you used. Sometimes you can also provide exported
versions of those files which, although not as useful for modification as the
originals, will make life easier for people who want to understand your designs.
For example, PCB schematics and layout can be exported as pdf files, and
3D mechanical designs can be exported to the STEP format.
\begin{enumerate}[label=\textbf{\ref*{subsec:your-sources}.2}]
\item \textbf{Suggestion: } include in your design sources versions of the files
exported to formats everybody can read.
\end{enumerate}
It can also be good to let people know that you are following this guide, so
they see why you are doing things in this or that way.
\begin{enumerate}[label=\textbf{\ref*{subsec:your-sources}.3}]
\item \textbf{Suggestion: } include a copy of this user guide, in pdf or plain
text format, in your sources.
\end{enumerate}
Of course, although not strictly necessary, you should also include a copy of
the licence text (CERN-OHL-S v2 in this case) in pdf or plain text form. Your
design files will anyway be identified as licensed under that licence, with a
URL pointing to the licence text, but it does not hurt to include the licence
text in the source package for the convenience of the user and to make it very
visible that the whole design is open source.
\begin{enumerate}[label=\textbf{\ref*{subsec:your-sources}.4}]
\item \textbf{Suggestion: } include a copy of the CERN-OHL-S v2 licence text, in
pdf or plain text format, in your sources.
\end{enumerate}
One of the requirements for licensees who make modifications to the design and
publish those modifications, is to make them explicit in a dedicated text file.
As a licensor, you can make this obligation more easy to see and bear in mind by
including an empty file called CHANGES.txt in your sources.
\begin{enumerate}[label=\textbf{\ref*{subsec:your-sources}.5}]
\item \textbf{Suggestion: } include an empty CHANGES.txt file in your sources.
You may write a few lines in the beginning of the file stating that
information should be added but never removed from that file, and that,
according to section 3.3.b of the licence, licensees should provide a brief
entry with a date and the nature of the modification for each design change.
For example `26 April 2020: AC/DC power converter circuit removed as AC input
no longer necessary'.
\end{enumerate}
Now, as you have seen, as the initial licensor you have relatively few
obligations. We are going to assume that it is your intent to license your
design under CERN-OHL-S v2 though, and in that sense the minimal requirements
are going to be described as `rules' below.
Some files can easily include a header of a text box with copyright and
licensing information which will be easily visible to whoever opens them. For
file types which do not easily grant that possibility, consider using a separate
text file taking as name the name of the original file with
`.license'\footnote{Here we exceptionally use US spelling for the word `licence'
in order to be coherent with the REUSE project, which is where we got this
idea. See \href{https://reuse.software/}{https://reuse.software/} for
details.} appended to it. So if you have e.g. a file called
`my\_3d\_design.FCStd', you can add another file in the same directory called
`my\_3d\_design.FCStd.license' which is a text file containing copyright and
licensing information.
\begin{enumerate}[label=\textbf{\ref*{subsec:your-sources}.6}]
\item \textbf{Rule: } include for each source file, either embedded in the file
itself or in a separate text file which refers to it:
\begin{enumerate}
\item a copyright notice reflecting actual ownership;
\item a notice that the hardware design source is licensed under the
CERN-OHL-S v2, possibly with a link to
\href{https://cern.ch/cern-ohl}{https://cern.ch/cern-ohl}:
\begin{enumerate}
\item ``Licensed under CERN-OHL-S v2 or later'' or
\item ``Licensed under CERN-OHL-S v2'';
\end{enumerate}
\item a disclaimer of warranties;
\item a Source Location if you wish to specify one;
\item optionally, a Notice specifying that you wish the Source Location to
remain visible on the Product (or its packaging, or in its documentation)
even after modifications.
\end{enumerate}
\end{enumerate}
Here is an example for a hypothetical designer called Sam Smith hosting a design
called Gizmo at https://example\_url:
\begin{mdframed}
Copyright Sam Smith 2020.
\\
This source describes Open Hardware and is licensed under the CERN-OHL-S v2.
\\
You may redistribute and modify this source and make products using it under
the terms of the CERN-OHL-S v2 (https:/cern.ch/cern-ohl). This source is
distributed WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY, INCLUDING OF
MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY\\QUALITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Please see the CERN-OHL-S v2 for applicable conditions.
\\
Source location: https://example\_url
\\
As per CERN-OHL-S v2 section 4, should You produce hardware based on this
source, You must maintain the Source Location visible on the external case of
the Gizmo or other product you make using this documentation.
\end{mdframed}
The first three lines in the example above, containing copyright and licence
type, can be substituted by a valid SPDX header, like this:
\noindent SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2020 Sam Smith \textless sam@example.com\textgreater\\
SPDX-License-Identifier: CERN-OHL-S-2.0
or, in case the `or later' version is preferred:
\noindent SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2020 Sam Smith \textless sam@example.com\textgreater\\
SPDX-License-Identifier: CERN-OHL-S-2.0+
\begin{enumerate}[label=\textbf{\ref*{subsec:your-sources}.7}]
\item \textbf{Suggestion: } use standard SPDX headers whenever possible so that
your choice of licence is easy to understand by humans and computers alike.
\end{enumerate}
We are going to assume that you, as a licensor, want people who receive a product
based on your design to know that it is Open Hardware and where they can find
the design files for that product, hence:
\begin{enumerate}[label=\textbf{\ref*{subsec:your-sources}.8}]
\item \textbf{Rule: } include in a part of the Source corresponding to a visible
part of the Product (e.g. silkscreen or top copper for a Printed Circuit
Board):
\begin{enumerate}
\item the licence notice: “Licensed under CERN-OHL-S v2”;
\item the Source Location.
\end{enumerate}
Do \emph{not} include the CERN logo or the copyright notice in there.
{\color{red} discuss this}
\end{enumerate}
\section{How to deal with hardware designs licensed under CERN-OHL-S v2}
\subsection{Design modifications and publication}
\subsection{Hardware production and distribution}
\end{document}
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