Re: Are register names and locations under copyright?
On Wed, Jan 10, 2018 at 9:11 PM, Philipp Klaus Krause wrote:
> Problem: Hardware vendors want to impose non-free terms on the header
> files (via a copyright claim on the files that the headers were
> generated from).
I think we need more details. Are the files the headers were generated
from publicly available? Do they list any copyright/license
information?
> Are the register names and locations under copyright? Is the generated
> header file under copyright? If yes, who are the owners of the
> copyright? Does the situation vary across jurisdictions?
>
> SDCC developers are currently unsure about this.
I would strongly suggest SDCC developers obtain legal advice on this
topic, especially in light of Oracle v Google.
Software Freedom Conservancy may be able to help with this:
https://sfconservancy.org/
> For some targets, SDCC already has such files (e.g.
> https://sourceforge.net/p/sdcc/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/sdcc/device/non-free/include/pic16/pic18f1320.h).
I note this in the file you mention:
* This file is generated automatically by the cinc2h.pl, 2016-04-13
17:23:42 UTC.
In addition to the hardware vendors copyright issue, clearly this
header is not the source form under the GPL's "preferred form for
modification" requirements, nor under DFSG item 2 and therefore Debian
cannot distribute it without the source.
--
bye,
pabs
https://wiki.debian.org/PaulWise
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