Exploring the Degrees of Openness in DIY Hardware: Choose Your Level of Open Source Freedom
In the realm of open-source projects, we're all familiar with software, but when it comes to open-source hardware, things get a little murky. My rant for today focuses on questionable open-hardware projects that don't live up to their claims.
Open Source Hardware: The Right Way
To shed some light on this topic, let's examine two open-source hardware projects worth admiring. The first one is my own Single 8 home movie cartridge, a 3D printable film cartridge designed for an outdated format. Every essential file necessary to replicate the cartridge is available on GitHub under the CERN OHL. You can effortlessly create your STL file, edit it, or even generate your own Object. Open source in its simplest, most efficient form, spurring everyone's enthusiasm.
For a second example, let's consider the Tildagon, the Electromagnetic Field 2024 hacker camp's badge. Both the hardware and software of the Tildagon have repositories under the CERN OHL and MIT license respectively. With this data, you're all set to create your own Tildagon, or even redesign any aspect of it, following the license terms.
The film cartridge represents a straightforward open-source hardware project, with just one type of file and a clear project scope. But the Tildagon, being a more complex device, boasts numerous files describing its diverse parts, all working harmoniously to make the whole. Every required resource is present, and the terms of use for everything are crystal clear, making it an excellent example of how a complex open-source hardware project should be presented.
Open Source Hardware: The Wrong Way
Imagine if I, instead of EMF folks, was the Tildagon's developer, gradually eliminating files from the repositories. First, I'd take away the BOM, then the KiCAD files. Leaving just the Gerbers and PNG schematic, theoretically, I've provided enough resources to make a Tildagon. However, merely granting the rights to use and modify the files only as an open-source project isn't enough—it's the equivalent of distributing a compiled binary, and should not be considered open-source hardware.
In reality, I'm using the Tildagon as a metaphor for commercial projects that resemble this behavior, skimping on the resources they provide. While it serves their purpose well, it's not appropriate to push open-source boundaries in this way for marketing purposes. Only when something is fully open, or it should not, in my humble opinion, be allowed to describe itself as such. A closed-source product has its place, but misleading the public isn't one of them.
So What's the Solution?
The CERN OHL has a crucial line that sheds light on this issue: the concept of the "Complete source." Clause 1.8 goes as follows:
"This clause encapsulates perfectly how the release of all project files should be necessary for a project that wants to be called open-source."
It's essential because open source goes beyond mere copying privileges and extends to modifying and extending the project. Without access to all the necessary files, as I demonstrate with my hypothetical Tildagon-as-Gerbers example, this becomes difficult to achieve. Perhaps it's time for our community to adopt a more stringent approach to any project with less than complete disclosure, rather than welcoming every new shiny toy at face value and probing deeper to uncover the depth of the open-source hardware logo.
Otherwise, the open-source hardware label will inevitably lose its meaning. Is this the price we're willing to pay for a few trendy commercial projects?
Open-source hardware logo on PCB: Altzone, CC BY-SA 3.0.
- In the realm of open-source projects, open source hardware is not only limited to 3D printable items like the Single 8 home movie cartridge, but it also includes advanced technology such as the Tildagon badge, made available under licenses like the CERN OHL and MIT.
- While some open-source hardware projects may only provide partial resources, such as Gerbers, schematics, and BoMs, they should not be considered truly open-source if these partial resources do not include all necessary files for modification and extension, as explained in the CERN OHL's 'Complete source' clause.
