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Re: Debian-installer, older hardware, boot loaders, miboot & amiboot & ..



Henning Makholm wrote:
Scripsit Branden Robinson <branden@debian.org>

Worse case scenario, this could be clean-room reimplemented.


Before doing that, somebody ought to approach Apple and ask explicit
permission to reverse-engineer the boot-block code and distribute the
reverse-engineered source under a free license.

The worst that can happen is that the request ends up with some
clueless corporate lawyer whose instinctive reaction is, "No way;
that's *our* IP" - but if he has the slightest bit of clue he will
realise that Apple does not really have any commercial interest in
clinging to this particular piece of IP.

If you're going to ask apple for permission to reverse-engineer, you might as well ask them if they're willing to license the boot block in a DFSG Free manner.

It's worth a try, anyway.

--
Lewis Jardine
lj@dcs.ed.ac.uk
lewisjardine@tiscali.co.uk



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