Re: CS00003271 - Please review your case update - (Assigned)
On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 08:22:24 +0200, Sven Luther wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 05, 2005 at 12:45:05PM -0700, NIC Technology Support wrote:
>> Below is a response to your case number CS00003271 submitted to
>> Broadcom NIC Technology Support.
>>
>> Case Title: GPLed driver and binary-only firmware blobs.
>>
>> Response from Broadcom: I have forwarded this request to our
>> development team as well as our line product manager. I will inform
>> you, once a decision is made
>
> Thanks for your swift reply.
>
>
We (Debian) are preparing to release a new version of our distribution. We
would like to resolve this quickly, so that full support for tigon3
chipsets can be provided to our users (currently, tigon3 firmware is
removed from the driver). Increased urgency in this matter would be highly
appreciated by us.
> it was noted to me that the text i proposed for the firmware licencing
> was not best. I will ask advice of the debian legal team, but i guess
> your own legal advice will know what to put there too.
>
>
Ideally, I would like to see one of two licenses chosen. If Broadcom is
willing to supply the source code for the firmware, the GPL can be used
for the firmware. If the source code is not made available, a BSD license
would be preferred. If a custom license is chosen, or if a BSD license
with additional restrictions is chosen, please bear in mind a few things:
a) We would like to distribute it not just with Linux, but with other free
software kernels (FreeBSD, for example).
b) We intend to distribute the kernel in pieces; one piece/package may
contain the core kernel, another piece may contain certain device drivers
(including the tigon3 firmware). Restrictions upon what the firmware may
be distributed with (and/or is required to be distributed with) may lead
to ambiguities and problems for distributors trying to provide the
firmware in the most convenient manner.
The following is the preferred BSD-style license:
* Copyright (c) <date> <person/company> * All Rights Reserved.
*
* Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
* copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
* to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
* the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
* and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
* Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
*
* The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
* in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
*
* THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
* OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
* FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
* <person/company>, OR ANY OTHER CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM,
* DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR
* OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE
* OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
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