Hi,
On 18-05-18 11:00, Arend van Spriel wrote:
On 5/18/2018 9:04 AM, Hans de Goede wrote:
Hi,
On 15-05-18 10:43, Arend van Spriel wrote:
On 5/14/2018 2:05 PM, Josh Boyer wrote:
n Mon, May 14, 2018 at 6:11 AM Arend van Spriel <
arend.vanspriel@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 3/16/2018 3:08 PM, Chi-Hsien Lin wrote:
Update brcm firmware files and WHENCE accordingly.
Hi firmware-maintainers,
It seems this series somehow got lost. Can these still be applied. They
can be found in the linux-wireless patchwork database. I provided links
below.
All 5 of these move the respective firmware files under the Cypress
license. It has been pointed out that the Cypress license has some
questionable language in it and that people have been in touch to try
and
get this resolved. I'm personally waiting on applying them until the
licence issue is sorted out.
Thanks, Josh
I could not find any such response. Has it been taken off-list? Seems
like 2 months is quite some time, but maybe there are lawyers involved
;-)
Yes the discussion about this has been happening off-list. IANAL but
the gist of it is (AFAIK) that:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/LICENCE.cypress
has a clause which allows Cypress to retro-actively revoke the LICENSE:
"either party may terminate this Agreement at any time with or without
cause."
...
"Upon termination, you must destroy all copies of Software in your
possession or
control."
So upon revokation we would have to remove the files from linux-firmware
(rewrite git history?) and since distros get their redistribution rights
from this license too they would also need to remove it from their packages
including all mirrors and archives of older versions. Which simply is not
feasible and no other license in linux-firmware has such a clause.
Check again. From LICENCE.broadcom_bcm43xx:
"""
2. Restrictions. Licensee shall distribute Software with a copy of this
Agreement. Licensee shall not remove, efface or obscure any copyright or
trademark notices from the Software. Reproductions of the Broadcom copyright
notice shall be included with each copy of the Software, except where such
Software is embedded in a manner not readily accessible to the end user.
Licensee shall not: (i) use, license, sell or otherwise distribute the Software
except as provided in this Agreement; (ii) attempt to modify in any way,
reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any portion of the Software; or
(iii) use the Software or other material in violation of any applicable law or
regulation, including but not limited to any regulatory agency. This Agreement
shall automatically terminate upon Licensee\u2019s failure to comply with any of the
terms of this Agreement. In such event, Licensee will destroy all copies of the
Software and its component parts.
"""
That has the "destroy all copies of (the) Software" language, but the entire
file does not have anything equivalent to: "either party may terminate this Agreement
at any time with or without cause.". So as long as we abide by the license terms,
the LICENCE.broadcom_bcm43xx license will never terminate and the
"destroy all copies of (the) Software" language is not a problem.
The main problem is the "either party may terminate this Agreement at any time
with or without cause." language in the Cypress license. Note IANAL and TINLA.
Regards,
Hans
