[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: How long is it acceptable to leave *undistributable* files in the kernel package?



On Wed, 2004-06-16 at 18:32, Michael Poole wrote:
> Joe Wreschnig writes:
> 
> > On Wed, 2004-06-16 at 17:18, Michael Poole wrote:
> >> A little Google shows that Yggdrasil has made such an argument:
> >> http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2001/04/msg00130.html
> >> 
> >> Unfortunately for Mr. Richter, Linux does not seem to contain any
> >> copyright notices attributable to him or Yggdrasil before 2000.  As I
> >> cited elsewhere, this is at least FOUR YEARS after firmware was
> >> included in the kernel, so he cannot fairly claim infringement.  He
> >> should have known that binary firmware existed in the kernel before.
> >
> > I think it's fair to say he was misled by repeated statements that Linux
> > was under the GPL, e.g. from README:
> >
> >   It is distributed under the GNU General Public License - see the
> >   accompanying COPYING file for more details.
> >
> > Given the huge amount of code in Linux, it's very possible he didn't
> > even see any of the non-GPLd code at first, and I would consider it
> > totally reasonable to trust the README of a program at the outset.
> 
> You, sir, beg the question.  If you wish to argue in a non-circular
> manner, please do so at any time.  Do not expect the rest of us to
> take your word that X is true simply because you claim X.
>
> (I expect you will need a definition for X: it is the claim that
> including firmware blobs in the kernel is a violation of the GPL.)

Actually, my argument was that I don't think we can say Mr. Richter
should have known about binary firmware in the kernel, because it's
definitely not obvious from a cursory examination of the terms the
kernel claims to be under.

For the reason I believe firmware blobs licensed under GPL-incompatible
terms compiled into the kernel are a violation of the GPL, read my reply
to Thiemo.
-- 
Joe Wreschnig <piman@debian.org>

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Reply to: