Am Dienstag 09 Dezember 2008 12:54:42 schrieb Michal Suchanek: > The driver itself does not restrict the use of the system, it only > identifies what system you are running (among other things). > > It probably would not be part of a GNU system but I do not see how > adding it would violate any license.
The combination "you can't use our software with version X of the system, but you can use it with version Y, though both are completely API compatible" with "the system is licensed under the GPLv3" is a license violation, if using that software is part of the "normal operation" of that system. As I read it, shipping a media-player which builds on GPLv3 software but has a frontend which only works with a certain version of the GPLv3 software would be a license violation. If you don't ship the program on the system, but instead the user installs it himself at a later time, that is no license violation, since the user doesn't distribute the whole system. It might be that I read the GPLv3 too hard here, but deciding that is up to a judge to decide. Information: * What is tivoization? How does GPLv3 prevent it? Some devices utilize free software that can be upgraded, but are designed so that users are not allowed to modify that software. There are lots of different ways to do this; for example, sometimes the hardware checksums the software that is installed, and shuts down if it doesn't match an expected signature. The manufacturers comply with GPLv2 by giving you the source code, but you still don't have the freedom to modify the software you're using. We call this practice tivoization. When people distribute User Products that include software under GPLv3, section 6 requires that they provide you with information necessary to modify that software. User Products is a term specially defined in the license; examples of User Products include portable music players, digital video recorders, and home security systems. - http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#Tivoization * GPLv3, section 6: [...] “Installation Information” for a User Product means any methods, procedures, authorization keys, or other information required to install and execute modified versions of a covered work in that User Product from a modified version of its Corresponding Source. The information must suffice to ensure that the continued functioning of the modified object code is in no case prevented or interfered with solely because modification has been made. If you convey an object code work under this section in, or with, or specifically for use in, a User Product, and the conveying occurs as part of a transaction in which the right of possession and use of the User Product is transferred to the recipient in perpetuity or for a fixed term (regardless of how the transaction is characterized), the Corresponding Source conveyed under this section must be accompanied by the Installation Information. But this requirement does not apply if neither you nor any third party retains the ability to install modified object code on the User Product (for example, the work has been installed in ROM). - http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html In short: Any part under GPLv3 may not be hindered by other software only because it was modified. Best wishes, Arne -- -- My stuff: http://draketo.de - stories, songs, poems, programs and stuff :) -- Infinite Hands: http://infinite-hands.draketo.de - singing a part of the history of free software. -- Ein Würfel System: http://1w6.org - einfach saubere (Rollenspiel-) Regeln. -- PGP/GnuPG: http://draketo.de/inhalt/ich/pubkey.txt
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