On Thu, 2011-11-24 at 16:52 -0600, Jonathan Nieder wrote:
> (I had the wrong bug. Resending to the right one.)
> tags 643952 + upstream
> quit
>
> Hi Ben,
>
> Ben Hutchings wrote:
>
> > I can't see any licence text within the source tarball.
> [...]
> > Where is the full version of the licence text that you are summarising?
>
> It turns out we are in a funny situation, since the source code was
> downloaded under terms that permit relicensing the _binaries_ with
> fairly permissive terms.
>
> To quote the source code license[1]:
>
> You may license the object code of an Authorized Driver,
> including the Software contained therein; provided that such
> Authorized Driver is restricted to use solely with ALTEON
> ACEnic adapters and ALTEON network cards.
>
> I suspect this means that someone who downloaded the source code from
> Alteon (like Jamie Lokier or Bill Paul) can simply _make something up_
> as long as it includes the restrictions Alteon suggests. Weird, but
> I kind of like it.
>
> To move forward:
>
> 1. Does that look correct to you?
> 2. What license terms would you like? How can we help to get this
> object code into the linux-firmware repository?
The object code is there, it just has an 'unknown' licence.
I would suggest something like this (cribbed from LICENCE.xc5000):
Permission to use, copy, and/or distribute this software, only
for use with ALTEON ACEnic adapters and ALTEON network cards,
for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided
that the above copyright notice and this permission notice
accompany all copies.
This should perhaps be accompanied by Alteon's disclaimer of warranty
(paragraph 4), and whoever grants the licence may also wish to
explicitly disclaim warranty himself.
Ben.
--
Ben Hutchings
Teamwork is essential - it allows you to blame someone else.
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