= [wiki:OpenBTS] Frequently Asked Questions =

Distributions, Servers, Licenses and Copyrights

=== What is "Kestrel Signal Processing, Inc." and what is its relationship to OpenBTS? ===
Kestrel Signal Processing, Inc. (KSP) is a software and signal processing consulting company in Fairfield, California. OpenBTS originated at KSP. KSP holds a blanket license for non-GPL distributions of OpenBTS and the great majority of publicly-available OpenBTS source code was written or commissioned by KSP.

=== Why are there two SVN servers? ===
OpenBTS uses two SVN servers, one at GNU Radio (through this trac) and one at KSP. Most active development is on the KSP server. That is because the OpenBTS project founders can grant accounts on the KSP server to whomever they want, whereas the GNU Radio server is controlled by the FSF. However, the KSP server is not publicly available because KSP prefers to make public releases of OpenBTS through GNU Radio. The GNU Radio OpenBTS trunk lags the KSP trunk by 4-6 weeks.

==== How do I get an account on the GNU Radio SVN server? ====
You would need to execute a copyright assignment agreement with the FSF.

==== How can I get an account on the KSP SVN server? ====
To get an account on the KSP server you need to do one of the following:
1. Make a copyright transfer agreement with KSP. This agreement will grant you back a blanket license to your own contributions.
1. Engage KSP in an OpenBTS consulting or support agreement.

=== If there are two servers, are there also two distributions? ===
Not really, at least not yet. In principle, there is a GPL distribution at GNU Radio and a non-GPL distribution available from KSP. In practice, though, these are identical source code and differ only in licensing. This could change, though, if someone contributes source code to the GNU Radio OpenBTS core application within executing a copyright assignment with KSP. Should that even happen, the GNU Radio and KSP distributions will diverge, since KSP cannot use GPL-only contributions in non-GPL releases.