Re: [RFC]: firmware-ipw2200, acceptable for non-free?
On Thursday 08 March 2007 04:23, Francesco Poli wrote:
> On Wed, 7 Mar 2007 20:13:28 +1000 Kel Modderman wrote:
> > Hi,
>
> Hi! :)
>
> > I am looking for discussion about a possibly controversially licensed
> > package in development, firmware-ipw2200.
> >
> > License: Intel license
> >
> > http://bughost.org/firmware/LICENSE.ipw2200-fw
>
> From a veeeeery quick reading, I didn't spot any showstopper for
> distribution through the non-free archive (apart from the weird
> restrictions that you yourself noted, which however seem to be
> satisfiable by Debian), but I would feel safer if other debian-legal
> regulars provided their opinion...
>
> However, the license does not meet the DFSG (it's not even close to
> meeting them...): has Intel been contacted and asked to provide the
> firmware (with source code) in a DFSG-free manner (for instance, under
> the terms of the GNU GPL v2, or of the Expat/MIT license)? Intel has
> recently had some press coverage about their Free Software drivers for
> integrated graphics chips: I appreciated that move, maybe they are
> willing to get some more good publicity by freeing this firmware...
Quoting from:
http://intellinuxwireless.org/index.php?n=FAQ&s=license
[quote]
Q. The license for the binaries needed with the newer projects (ipw3945 and
iwlwifi) seems much cleaner than the license for the ipw2100 and ipw2200.
Can you change the terms of the older license?
[ ipw2100 and ipw2200 specific ]
A. Unfortunately, no. Those binaries contain intellectual property licensed
from third parties, and Intel must follow certain contractual obligations in
licensing for those components. The ipw3945 and iwlwifi related binaries are
all Intel-developed, and we are able to use a simplified license for that
product.
[/quote]
>
> [...]
>
> > Can the package qualify for inclusion in non-free?
>
> As I stated above, yes (maybe).
OK. Thanks for offering your opinion.
Thanks, Kel.
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