A practical guide to open-source license compliance for embedded Linux developers using Buildroot and Yocto. Covers the fundamentals of copyright, copyleft vs. permissive licenses (GPL, LGPL, MIT, BSD), and when you must release source code changes. Shows how to generate license manifests with Buildroot's `make legal-info` and Yocto's `license.manifest`, explains Yocto variables like `LIC_FILES_CHKSUM` and `INCOMPATIBLE_LICENSE`, and introduces audit tools like Fossology and SPDX. Real-world cases from Samsung and Tesla illustrate the legal risks of non-compliance.
