Alexandre Oliva wrote:
On May 21, 2008, Toshio Kuratomi <a.badger@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
There's free software as in legally licensed for us to use distribute
and modify and there's free software as in four freedoms free. Unless
I've missed something, the firmware in the kernel is licensed under
the GPLv2 and therefore it is legally licensed for us to use,
distribute, and modify.
I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you did indeed miss
something.
Have a look at the license for drivers/net/tokenring/3c359_microcode.h
2 /*
3 * The firmware this driver downloads into the tokenring card is a
4 * separate program and is not GPL'd source code, even though the Linux
5 * side driver and the routine that loads this data into the card are.
6 *
7 * This firmware is licensed to you strictly for use in conjunction
8 * with the use of 3Com 3C359 TokenRing adapters. There is no
9 * waranty expressed or implied about its fitness for any purpose.
10 */
This is just one out of some 30 examples of such licenses in the
kernel. And, heck, this one doesn't even grant permission for
redistribution. What are those Linux-no-libre guys thinking?
Thanks! The Packaging Committee and kernel maintainers will have to
look into what's going on here. Although that doesn't address your
larger issue of binary firmware.
-Toshio
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