Arthur Pemberton wrote:
2008/9/19 Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams <ivazqueznet@xxxxxxxxx>:
On Thu, 2008-09-18 at 08:58 -0400, jude ui wrote:
And to repharse my question - Can't you guys reselse the firmware as
opensource - are they prosperity drivers? (correct me if I'm wrong)
The firmware is not Fedora's to release. The hardware vendor releases it
as a binary blob due to at least one of 3 concerns:
1) Regulatory issues
Hardware vendors need to prevent end-users from modifying the firmware
so that the hardware can not be driven outside legal ranges.
2) Intellectual "Property" issues
Hardware vendors don't want other hardware vendors to know how they run
their hardware so that their design can't be copied or stolen.
3) Inability to build
Firmware is usually code for some PLD or ASIC, which needs specialized
(and EXPENSIVE) compilers to build. Most people are unlikely to be able
to turn the source into the firmware.
Only 3 seems valid to me. But I at least understand 1 and 2.
1 is a serious concern as well legally. Linux kernel now has a framework
to support this.
http://lwn.net/Articles/294675/
Rahul
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