Re: Debian-installer, older hardware, boot loaders, miboot & amiboot & ..

[Nathanael Nerode <neroden@twcny.rr.com>]

Henning Makholm wrote:

> Scripsit Branden Robinson <branden@debian.org>
> 
>> There's absolutely no point even implying that we need their permission
>> to reverse engineer anything,
> 
> If we are going to distribute code that has been derived by reverse
> engineering, then we do need permission from the original copyright
> holder. 
Only if it's actually a derivative work.  If it's done by the "Chinese Wall"
a.k.a "Clean Room" method, it's not, as has been explained before.

That requires one person examining the boot block and making a specification
(without any binary details) for what a boot block needs to do, and a
*different* person reading the specification and writing a brand new boot
block from it.

>It's not the "reverse engineering" that needs permission; it's
> the "distribute derived code".
> 

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