Warner Losh asked a question about the use of cpp #include in dts source files, and while the topic of license of existing devicetree source files in the linux source tree has a bearing on the question, he adeptly tried to avoid stirring up a hornet's nest. Instead of sidetracking his thread with license issues, this is a new thread with my license question. I'm sure I'll regret asking this, but what the heck. The result of compiling a devicetree source file (.dts and .dtsi) generates a .dtb file aka devicetree blob aka flattened device tree (FDT). The FDT is a binary and ascii data structure that contains no code. If the devicetree source file(s) license is gpl, then it seems to me that the license of the blob is also gpl. If an operating system kernel "reads" an FDT, would that somehow be a license, copyright, or other issue if the kernel was not also gpl licensed? My naive, "I'm not a lawyer", view is that there would not be an issue, but my third hand impression is that the BSDs are concerned that there may be an issue. Are there any good authoritative sources that have addressed this issue or a similar issue? -Frank -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe devicetree-spec" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
