Re: [AMENDMENT]: Release Etch now, with source-less but legal and freely licensed firmware
On Tue, Oct 03, 2006 at 04:37:46PM +0200, Frank Küster wrote:
> Anthony Towns <aj@azure.humbug.org.au> wrote:
>
> > On Tue, Oct 03, 2006 at 02:09:50PM +0200, Frank K?ster wrote:
> >> + | We allow inclusion into etch even if the way we distribute the
> >> + | firmware leads to a violation of the license,
> >
> > Uh, no we won't.
> >
> > There are claims that the GPL, when applied to "sourceless" firmware,
> > doesn't provide permission to redistribute because there's presumably a
> > "more preferred" version of the source in existance somewhere. That's
> > an *argument* that a violation may exist, not proof that one does. If
> > that argument were accepted by Debian, we would not be distributing
> > it no matter what GRs there might be, right up to the DFSG and Social
> > Contract being entirely scrapped -- it would be *illegal* to distribute
> > those works, both for us, for Red Hat, for kernel.org and just about
> > everyone else.
>
> Okay. Since I never read anybody saying it this clearly (in other
> words, contradicting Sven when he asserted that the claims were true), I
> wasn't aware of that.
>
> It seems to me as if we might need to phrase the vote in a way that also
> makes clear which interpretation we follow.
>
> >> if the current
> >> + | license does not allow modification, or if there is no source
> >> + | available. However, we still require that the firmware has a
> >> + | license that, in principle, allows distribution (possibly under
> >> + | conditions we currently cannot fully meet).
> >> What do you think?
>
> That would make, e.g.:
>
> + | firmware included in the kernel itself as part of Debian Etch.
> + | We allow inclusion into etch even if the current license does
> + | not allow modification, or if there are hints that there exists
> + | a form more suited for modification than the binary form
> + | included in the kernel. However, we still require that the
> + | firmware has a license that allows distribution.
>
> Regards, Frank
I don't like this one, see my reply to Anthony for an example of what i
believe we should say :)
Friendly,
Sven Luther
>
>
> --
> Frank Küster
> Single Molecule Spectroscopy, Protein Folding @ Inst. f. Biochemie, Univ. Zürich
> Debian Developer (teTeX/TeXLive)
>
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