Re: How long is it acceptable to leave *undistributable* files in the kernel package?
On Thu, Jun 17, 2004 at 06:03:16PM +0000, Jim Marhaus wrote:
> Traditionally people have erred on the side of caution in interpreting free
> licenses, following the wishes of the copyright holder and looking to the
> license's author for guidance. In this case the FSF indicates the binary
> firmware may violate the GPL. Kernel copyright holders also claim this, as well
> as some legally knowledgeable folks within Debian. Isn't Debian better served
> by removing the potentially infringing files than playing lawyer and trying to
> justify the infringement?
You speak as if this has no negative effects. In fact, it does.
By removing, let's say, the tg3 driver, you make Debian unusable for a
large percentage of users. Those users turn to other distributions who,
strangely, have much better paid legal counsel than Debian. Surely if
anyone should be concerned, it's one with a half-billion dollar market
capitalisation rather than one with tens of thousands in its bank account.
--
"Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon
the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those
conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse
to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince
himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep
he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception." -- Mark Twain
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