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On Thu, Feb 21, 2013 at 07:33:48PM +0100, Ulrich Mueller wrote: |
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> >>>>> On Thu, 21 Feb 2013, Greg KH wrote: |
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> |
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> >> Ulrich Mueller (ulm) wrote this on the 16th: |
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> >> |
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> >> > Look into the WHENCE file and be horrified. Taking just the first ten |
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> >> > items (of a total 114): |
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> >> > |
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> >> > Unknown license (3 times) |
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> |
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> > Which ones specifically? |
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> |
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> Driver: snd-korg1212 -- Korg 1212 IO audio device |
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> Driver: kaweth -- USB KLSI KL5USB101-based Ethernet device |
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> Driver: dvb-ttusb-budget -- Technotrend/Hauppauge Nova-USB devices |
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|
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As these originally came from the kernel source tree, they are "by |
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default" ok. |
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|
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> >> > GPL, but without source (3 times) |
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> |
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> > Really? Which? |
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> |
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> Driver: ambassador -- Madge Ambassador (Collage PCI 155 Server) ATM NIC. |
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> Driver: snd-maestro3 -- ESS Allegro Maestro3 audio device |
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> Driver: qla1280 - Qlogic QLA 1240/1x80/1x160 SCSI support |
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|
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Some of these came from the kernel source tree originally, others don't, |
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but they all imply that the GPL really isn't for the firmware itself. |
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Odd. |
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|
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> >> > "All rights reserved" |
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> |
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> > That's not an issue, unless it is alone, is there something else in the |
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> > license as well? |
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> |
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> Driver: snd-ymfpci -- Yamaha YMF724/740/744/754 audio devices |
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> |
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> According to WHENCE, it is: |
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> "Copyright (c) 1997-1999 Yamaha Corporation. All Rights Reserved." |
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> Nothing else. |
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|
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That's a copyright notice, not a license, so I don't know what to |
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suggest :) |
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|
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> >> > BSD, without source |
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> |
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> > There's no problem with that. |
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> |
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> Driver: advansys - AdvanSys SCSI |
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> |
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> Right, and it's the only one out of the first ten that we're allowed |
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> to redistribute. |
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> |
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> >> > Right for redistribution not granted |
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> |
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> > Huh? Which? |
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> |
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> Driver: smctr -- SMC ISA/MCA Token Ring adapter |
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|
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Token ring drivers were dropped from the kernel already, so this isn't |
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an issue. |
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|
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> >> > "Permission is hereby granted for the distribution [...] as part of |
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> >> > a Linux or other Open Source operating system kernel" |
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> |
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> > What is wrong with that? We happen to be distributing a Linux operating |
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> > system. |
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> |
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> Driver: keyspan -- USB Keyspan USA-xxx serial device |
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> |
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> We distribute it in a separate package. And it doesn't say "part of |
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> an OS" but explicitly "part of a kernel". |
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|
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Ah, that's because at the time, that's the way it was originally |
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distributed. Given that the company isn't around anymore, I don't think |
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this is going to be an issue :) |
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|
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> |
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> >> > With one exception, we are not even allowed to redistribute these. |
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> |
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> > I don't understand, please explain all of these in detail so that we can |
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> > fix this upstream. |
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> |
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> >> This is what we've been discussing about. This is not really about |
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> >> Gentoo by itself, but the ability to distribute the sources at all, be |
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> >> it from us or somebody else. |
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> |
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> > I understand, and as an upstream developer, I want to see that fixed |
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> > because all distros need to be able to distribute these files for the |
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> > kernel to work properly. |
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> |
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> > Oh, and other distros, with lots of lawyers, are distributing these |
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> > firmware images as a single package, so this needs to be resolved either |
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> > by realizing that our interpretation is incorrect, or that everyone is |
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> > wrong here. |
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> |
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> Can you show me a distro that distributes above-mentioned files? |
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> Debian, for example, doesn't distribute them (AFAICS). |
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|
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As far as I can tell, both SuSE and Red Hat distribute these today. And |
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so does Canonical, but really, that can't be taken as "valid legal |
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usage" at all :) |
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|
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Has anyone asked the upstream linux-firmware developers about these |
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files? |
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|
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thanks for the detailed descriptions, much appreciated. |
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|
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I think this is something that the Board needs to decide, after |
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discussing it with our lawyers, it's not something that non-legal people |
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(like myself) should be saying is the definitive answer. |
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|
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greg k-h |