Fedora Freedom and linux-libre

jeff moe at blagblagblag.org
Sun Jun 15 18:44:54 UTC 2008


Alan Cox wrote:
> 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.

Perhaps you can clarify this for me.

** What license is linux-2.6.25/drivers/net/tg3.c distributed under? **

If it's not GPLv2, then people should stop saying the Linux kernel is GPv2L, 
since it isn't.

If just part of the file is proprietary and the other part is GPLv2 how can it 
legally include things like this?

#include <linux/ip.h> which says is under the GPLv2.

And if it's "mere aggregation" where does someone get two parts that are 
aggregated? You can't *simply* remove the firmware since they are so tied 
together in the tg3.c file (e.g. I tried to do that and broke the driver--it 
took Alexandre to do it right).

(I should also note that I'm just talking about the source code--not what runs 
where, which is irrelevant to the source itself--I *never* have to even run the 
code to by bound by the GPL.)

-Jeff




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