Bug#501153: Tehuti driver and firmware distribution for Linux

[Ben Hutchings <benh@debian.org>]

On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 12:04:35PM +0100, Ben Hutchings wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 10:52:31AM +0200, Pinchas wrote:
> > Dear Ben
> > 
> > This subject was discussed and clarified in the past and it was agreed that
> > the "firmware" part of the Driver will be distributed in  Binary. This
> > Firmware is actually an integral part of our H/W and should be viewed as
> > such, thus it is supplied as a Binary code. 
> 
> I accept that you are treating this as a part of the hardware and I am
> not asking you to release its source code.  I am asking for a licence
> that clearly allows Debian and others to redistribute the firmware in
> binary format.  The GPL does not do this, because it says we must also
> distribute source code, and we cannot.

As examples, other hardware vendors have used the licence text:

    Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
    modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
    are met:
    1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
       notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
    2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
       notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
       documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
    3. Neither the name of [company] nor the names of its contributors
       may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
       without specific prior written permission.

or:

    Permission is hereby granted for the distribution of this firmware data
    in hexadecimal or equivalent format, provided this copyright notice is
    accompanying it.

I would be very grateful if you could state your intent formally.

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings