Open source

The components of embedded Linux are open source, so now is a good time to consider what that means, why open sources work the way they do and how this affects the often proprietary embedded device you will be creating from it.

Licenses

When talking about open source, the word, "free" is often used. People new to the subject often take it to mean nothing to pay, and open source software licenses do indeed guarantee that you can use the software to develop and deploy systems for no charge. However, the more important meaning here is freedom, since you are free to obtain the source code and modify it in any way you see fit and redeploy it in other systems. These licenses give you this right. Compare that with shareware licenses which allow ...

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