On Tue, Apr 05, 2005 at 12:50:14PM -0600, Chris Friesen wrote: > Josselin Mouette wrote: > > >The fact is also that mixing them with a GPLed software gives > >an result you can't redistribute - although it seems many people > >disagree with that assertion now. > > This is only true if the result is considered a "derivative work" of the > gpl'd code. > > The GPL states "In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based > on the Program with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on > a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other > work under the scope of this License." > > Since the main cpu does not actually run the binary firmware, the fact > that it lives in main memory with the code that the cpu *does* run is > irrelevent. In this case, the Debian stance is that the kernel proper > and the binary firmware are "merely aggregated" in a volume of storage ( > ie. system memory).
The problem is that you can only argue it is mere agregation, if the copyright notice doesn't de-facto put said firmware blobs under the GPL, thus making them undistributable by the selfsame definition of the GPL. Friendly, Sven Luther - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
