On Jun 18, 2008, Les Mikesell <lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Alexandre Oliva wrote: >> >>> The question is, does taking some code and an opaque binary blob and >>> sticking them in the same file make a 'work as a whole' or is it >>> identifiable sections of code and separate data that are not derived >>> from the Program? >> This only matters if you distribute them as separate works. When you >> distribute them as a whole, you don't get the exception. > Separate sections. Yep. this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections *when* you distribute them as *separate* works. But *when* you distribute the same sections as *part* of a *whole* which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the *whole* *must* be on the terms of this License (emphasis mine) You can't just disregard the parts you don't like. >> Read again, very carefully, the sentence you quoted. Especially the >> "when you distribute them as separate works" part. > Note that it doesn't say anything about files there. Exactly. It talks about distributing them as separate works (not as separate sections, as you seem to read it), or as a whole work. Say, is the microcode_ctl package a copyrightable work? How about linux-2.6.25.tar.bz2? How about bzImage? >>> Would the code continue to work if you replace those bits with >>> something else that would work in the hardware it loads? >> Whether it works or not is not relevant to tell whether it's derived. > How else could you tell if the parts are related or not, unless you > were part of the creative process. It's trivial to tell there was a creative process in that expression, and that's enough to establish copyrightability. >>> But why not stick to the CPU microcode example? >> Because you got the facts wrong. It's not distributed even close to >> the kernel. > Does 'close' have something to do with whether it is a separate > section or not? Isn't it in the same vmlinuz imaage somewhere? No. You got your facts completely wrong. The CPU microcode you're talking about is in the package microcode_ctl. It's a separate rpm. Totally unrelated with the kernel rpm. -- Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/ Free Software Evangelist oliva@{lsd.ic.unicamp.br, gnu.org} FSFLA Board Member ¡Sé Libre! => http://www.fsfla.org/ Red Hat Compiler Engineer aoliva@{redhat.com, gcc.gnu.org} -- fedora-devel-list mailing list fedora-devel-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list
