Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sun, 1 Jun 2008 18:17:16 +0200 | From | Pavel Machek <> | Subject | Re: [Ksummit-2008-discuss] RFC: Moving firmware blobs out of the kernel. |
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Hi!
> The firmware is an independent and separate work in itself. Section 2 of > the GPL talks about such sections of the work, explicitly. The only way > to excuse what we're doing at the moment is to call it 'mere > aggregation' -- an exception which was intended to handle stuff like the > 'freeware' CDs on the covers of magazines, distributing a bunch of > unrelated software. Not a coherent work combining software from > different sources into a single entity which works closely together as > one, and where one part is useless without the other.
Wait a moment, haven't you just described linux distribution?
I mean, if aggregation clause does not work for firmware in kernel, why would it work for packages in distro?
(Actually, seeing some distro EULAs, I wished GPL infected whole distro so that I'd not have to read the stupid EULA.)
> There are people who own copyright on firmware who refuse to put it into > the Linux source tree, because their lawyers don't believe the 'mere > aggregation' line, and believe that including it in the kernel source in > any form would require them to license it under the GPL.
They can release the firmware under BSD 3-clause, and we can include it in kernel, then.... right? (Or into linux-firmware or into whatever package that comes handy).
-- (english) http://www.livejournal.com/~pavelmachek (cesky, pictures) http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~pavel/picture/horses/blog.html
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