Distribution of Dockerfiles: Who is responsible for FOSS Licence Compliance?

Abstract

The deployment of Docker is becoming increasingly popular as container technology allows for a unified software distribution that is largely independent of the target system. This raises new questions of FOSS license compliance. The reason is that in addition to the complete software distribution as a "Docker image", so-called Dockerfiles can be used, which - similar to a script - contain a kind of construction manual for the software which may include downloads from third party repositories. Such form of decentralized distribution raises the question of responsibility for compliance with the license conditions. This article sheds light on the concept of "distribution" under European copyright law as a starting point for the interpretation of free licenses. In the course of the study, it is shown that physical distribution and distribution in the meaning of copyright law do not always have to be congruent.

This article was created in collaboration with and funded by the Open Source Automation Development Lab (OSADL) eG (www.osadl.org).