On Tue, Apr 05, 2005 at 06:06:34PM -0400, Andres Salomon wrote: > I created a wiki page that contains a list of all drivers that are > currently considered undistributable by Debian, the available license > information we have for them, and various other comments: > > http://wiki.debian.net/?KernelFirmwareLicensing > > I would appreciate feedback from d-l about the various firmware blobs that > *do* contain licensing. Remember that the goal is to distribute the > firmware in non-free, embedded in the drivers themselves; however, > separate from the main kernel tree. Picking on a few at random: > > Quoth the page: "Look at the source files yourself to understand > > any licensing restrictions on their use. Alteon's license may be > > summarised like this: you may share and develop the firmware, but it > > is only for use with Alteon NIC products." That summary is obviously bogus because you can't do that in a license. I looked at the source files, and I did not find any license at all. Everything says "All rights reserved" on it. So I think this is just yet another entirely unlicensed firmware bundle - ironically, it's one which *does* include source written in C, so there is absolutely no chance anybody could argue that the hex dump is source. > > * This firmware is for the Emagic EMI 2|6 Audio Interface > > * > > * The firmware contained herein is Copyright (c) 1999-2002 Emagic > > * as an unpublished work. This notice does not imply unrestricted > > * or public access to this firmware which is a trade secret of Emagic, > > * and which may not be reproduced, used, sold or transferred to > > * any third party without Emagic's written consent. All Rights Reserved. That's clearly nonsense. It's not unpublished or a trade secret if it's published in the kernel. Anyway, you need written permission to distribute it at all. However, is it the same emagic as here? http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/jul/01emagic.html If so, it might be worth asking Apple. They'll probably either grant a license for it or sue everybody who's been distributing it. > > The firmware contained herein as keyspan_*.h is > > > > Copyright (C) 1999-2001 > > Keyspan, A division of InnoSys Incorporated ("Keyspan") > > > > as an unpublished work. This notice does not imply unrestricted or > > public access to the source code from which this firmware image is > > derived. Except as noted below this firmware image may not be > > reproduced, used, sold or transferred to any third party without > > Keyspan's prior written consent. All Rights Reserved. > > > > Permission is hereby granted for the distribution of this firmware > > image as part of a Linux or other Open Source operating system kernel > > in text or binary form as required. > > > > This firmware may not be modified and may only be used with > > Keyspan hardware. Distribution and/or Modification of the > > keyspan.c driver which includes this firmware, in whole or in > > part, requires the inclusion of this statement." Finally, one with a real license. It's obviously non-free, but I see no reason why it can't be distributed in non-free, with the usual provisos about proprietary drivers being entirely unsupportable. A few of these are BSD-licensed binaries; those are indeed distributable, although of course they're proprietary. -- .''`. ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield : :' : http://www.debian.org/ | `. `' | `- -><- |
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