Alexandre Oliva wrote:
On May 21, 2008, Toshio Kuratomi <a.badger(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> There's free software as in legally licensed for us to use
distribute
> and modify and there's free software as in four freedoms free. Unless
> I've missed something, the firmware in the kernel is licensed under
> the GPLv2 and therefore it is legally licensed for us to use,
> distribute, and modify.
I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you did indeed miss
something.
Have a look at the license for drivers/net/tokenring/3c359_microcode.h
2 /*
3 * The firmware this driver downloads into the tokenring card is a
4 * separate program and is not GPL'd source code, even though the Linux
5 * side driver and the routine that loads this data into the card are.
6 *
7 * This firmware is licensed to you strictly for use in conjunction
8 * with the use of 3Com 3C359 TokenRing adapters. There is no
9 * waranty expressed or implied about its fitness for any purpose.
10 */
This is just one out of some 30 examples of such licenses in the
kernel. And, heck, this one doesn't even grant permission for
redistribution. What are those Linux-no-libre guys thinking?
Thanks! The Packaging Committee and kernel maintainers will have to
look into what's going on here. Although that doesn't address your
larger issue of binary firmware.
-Toshio