On Tue, Apr 05, 2005 at 06:06:34PM -0400, Andres Salomon wrote:
> I created a wiki page that contains a list of all drivers that are
> currently considered undistributable by Debian, the available license
> information we have for them, and various other comments:
>
> http://wiki.debian.net/?KernelFirmwareLicensing
>
> I would appreciate feedback from d-l about the various firmware blobs that
> *do* contain licensing. Remember that the goal is to distribute the
> firmware in non-free, embedded in the drivers themselves; however,
> separate from the main kernel tree.
Picking on a few at random:
> > Quoth the page: "Look at the source files yourself to understand
> > any licensing restrictions on their use. Alteon's license may be
> > summarised like this: you may share and develop the firmware, but it
> > is only for use with Alteon NIC products."
That summary is obviously bogus because you can't do that in a
license. I looked at the source files, and I did not find any license
at all. Everything says "All rights reserved" on it. So I think this
is just yet another entirely unlicensed firmware bundle - ironically,
it's one which *does* include source written in C, so there is
absolutely no chance anybody could argue that the hex dump is source.
> > * This firmware is for the Emagic EMI 2|6 Audio Interface
> > *
> > * The firmware contained herein is Copyright (c) 1999-2002 Emagic
> > * as an unpublished work. This notice does not imply unrestricted
> > * or public access to this firmware which is a trade secret of Emagic,
> > * and which may not be reproduced, used, sold or transferred to
> > * any third party without Emagic's written consent. All Rights Reserved.
That's clearly nonsense. It's not unpublished or a trade secret if
it's published in the kernel. Anyway, you need written permission to
distribute it at all.
However, is it the same emagic as here?
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/jul/01emagic.html
If so, it might be worth asking Apple. They'll probably either grant a
license for it or sue everybody who's been distributing it.
> > The firmware contained herein as keyspan_*.h is
> >
> > Copyright (C) 1999-2001
> > Keyspan, A division of InnoSys Incorporated ("Keyspan")
> >
> > as an unpublished work. This notice does not imply unrestricted or
> > public access to the source code from which this firmware image is
> > derived. Except as noted below this firmware image may not be
> > reproduced, used, sold or transferred to any third party without
> > Keyspan's prior written consent. All Rights Reserved.
> >
> > Permission is hereby granted for the distribution of this firmware
> > image as part of a Linux or other Open Source operating system kernel
> > in text or binary form as required.
> >
> > This firmware may not be modified and may only be used with
> > Keyspan hardware. Distribution and/or Modification of the
> > keyspan.c driver which includes this firmware, in whole or in
> > part, requires the inclusion of this statement."
Finally, one with a real license. It's obviously non-free, but I see
no reason why it can't be distributed in non-free, with the usual
provisos about proprietary drivers being entirely unsupportable.
A few of these are BSD-licensed binaries; those are indeed
distributable, although of course they're proprietary.
--
.''`. ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield
: :' : http://www.debian.org/ |
`. `' |
`- -><- |
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