Daniel Feenberg wrote: > > Don't ndis(4) ndiscvt and ndisgen(8) essentially accomplish what the OP > is requesting? See the handbook section 12.8.1.1: > > > http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/config-network-setup.html > > or the man page for ndiscvt: > > http://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?section=8&topic=ndiscvt > > > While doing the conversion looks a bit beyond what we would expect of an > end-user, it does seem to offer a path for using hardware whose > manufacturer does not support FreeBSD. Is there anything beyond licensing > issues preventing such drivers from being included in the distribution, or > made downloadable in FreeBSD form?
Yeah, there _is_, unfortunately. There is this 'insignficant' matter known as "copyright law". Vendor-created device-drivers for Windows _are_ copyrighted works. the terms of the license give permission for redisribution of those works, in *UNMODIFIED* form. Unfortunately, when you have something that digs into that work, extracts the logic, and wraps it in an interface for a different system, that is what is called "creating a derivative work". If you have been granted the right to redistribute the 'original', that right does -not- extend to a 'derivative work'. You have to have *separate* permission from the copyright owner for a derivative work. Distributing a 'tool' that takes the 'original' and automatically creates the 'derivative work' for someone is *also* proscribed, because the primary use of that tool is to create infringing works. A 'manual' tool is a subtly, but importantly, different thing. It requires the operator to initiat the overt acts. thus, as as long as there are reasonable legitimate uses, the sfoftware itself is safe. _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
