Messages in this thread | | | Date | Tue, 29 May 2001 02:03:00 +0200 | From | Jamie Lokier <> | Subject | Re: Fwd: Copyright infringement in linux/drivers/usb/serial/keyspan*fw.h |
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James Sutherland wrote: > Note the "derived work"; there is no way on this earth (or any other) that > you could regard the device's firmware as being a "derived work" of the > driver!
The same is true if you add another completely new and separately written .c source file: the new file is not a derived work of the driver. The GPL even has an explicit provision to make it clear that the GPL covers only the combined work, and the individual components continue to be available under their original terms.
> AFAICS, the firmware is just a file served up to the device as needed > - no more a derivative work from the kernel than my homepage is a > derivative work of Apache.
Indeed. But if you compiled your home page, linked it into Emacs to display on startup, and distributed the binary, the _combination_ "Emacs+homepage" binary would be a derived work, and you'd be required to offer source for both parts.
It is the combination which is considered a derived work, and the GPL terms apply to a combination when any of the parts is GPLed. (Otherwise you aren't granted permission to distributed the combination).
Combination, as ever, is different from "mere aggregation" and that's where so many arguments begin...
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