On Thu, Feb 21, 2013 at 07:33:48PM +0100, Ulrich Mueller wrote: > >>>>> On Thu, 21 Feb 2013, Greg KH wrote: > > >> Ulrich Mueller (ulm) wrote this on the 16th: > >> > >> > Look into the WHENCE file and be horrified. Taking just the first ten > >> > items (of a total 114): > >> > > >> > Unknown license (3 times) > > > Which ones specifically? > > Driver: snd-korg1212 -- Korg 1212 IO audio device > Driver: kaweth -- USB KLSI KL5USB101-based Ethernet device > Driver: dvb-ttusb-budget -- Technotrend/Hauppauge Nova-USB devices
As these originally came from the kernel source tree, they are "by default" ok. > >> > GPL, but without source (3 times) > > > Really? Which? > > Driver: ambassador -- Madge Ambassador (Collage PCI 155 Server) ATM NIC. > Driver: snd-maestro3 -- ESS Allegro Maestro3 audio device > Driver: qla1280 - Qlogic QLA 1240/1x80/1x160 SCSI support Some of these came from the kernel source tree originally, others don't, but they all imply that the GPL really isn't for the firmware itself. Odd. > >> > "All rights reserved" > > > That's not an issue, unless it is alone, is there something else in the > > license as well? > > Driver: snd-ymfpci -- Yamaha YMF724/740/744/754 audio devices > > According to WHENCE, it is: > "Copyright (c) 1997-1999 Yamaha Corporation. All Rights Reserved." > Nothing else. That's a copyright notice, not a license, so I don't know what to suggest :) > >> > BSD, without source > > > There's no problem with that. > > Driver: advansys - AdvanSys SCSI > > Right, and it's the only one out of the first ten that we're allowed > to redistribute. > > >> > Right for redistribution not granted > > > Huh? Which? > > Driver: smctr -- SMC ISA/MCA Token Ring adapter Token ring drivers were dropped from the kernel already, so this isn't an issue. > >> > "Permission is hereby granted for the distribution [...] as part of > >> > a Linux or other Open Source operating system kernel" > > > What is wrong with that? We happen to be distributing a Linux operating > > system. > > Driver: keyspan -- USB Keyspan USA-xxx serial device > > We distribute it in a separate package. And it doesn't say "part of > an OS" but explicitly "part of a kernel". Ah, that's because at the time, that's the way it was originally distributed. Given that the company isn't around anymore, I don't think this is going to be an issue :) > > >> > With one exception, we are not even allowed to redistribute these. > > > I don't understand, please explain all of these in detail so that we can > > fix this upstream. > > >> This is what we've been discussing about. This is not really about > >> Gentoo by itself, but the ability to distribute the sources at all, be > >> it from us or somebody else. > > > I understand, and as an upstream developer, I want to see that fixed > > because all distros need to be able to distribute these files for the > > kernel to work properly. > > > Oh, and other distros, with lots of lawyers, are distributing these > > firmware images as a single package, so this needs to be resolved either > > by realizing that our interpretation is incorrect, or that everyone is > > wrong here. > > Can you show me a distro that distributes above-mentioned files? > Debian, for example, doesn't distribute them (AFAICS). As far as I can tell, both SuSE and Red Hat distribute these today. And so does Canonical, but really, that can't be taken as "valid legal usage" at all :) Has anyone asked the upstream linux-firmware developers about these files? thanks for the detailed descriptions, much appreciated. I think this is something that the Board needs to decide, after discussing it with our lawyers, it's not something that non-legal people (like myself) should be saying is the definitive answer. greg k-h
