Re: Fedora Freedom and linux-libre

[Alan Cox <alan redhat com>]

On Mon, Jun 09, 2008 at 10:11:33PM +0100, David Woodhouse wrote:
> distribute those _same_ sections as part of a whole which is a work
> based on the GPL'd Program...

I do not believe they are "part of a whole which is a work based on..". In
this case I believe they are independant works that are merely aggregated.
The alternate position would be that a general interface between two
independent works somehow made them one. That would just as equally say that
firefox and the web are one work.

> Do you believe that copyright law _prevents_ the GPL from making
> requirements about those separate works, in such a way that still lets
> you distribute the GPL'd work without complying with the licence?

That would seem to be a "how often do you beat your wife" question. The
underlying falsehood being that the GPL licence is not being complied with

I don't need your permission to copy the firmware for the tg3 driver I need
the permission of Broadcom.

Alan