Freeing the firmware [LWN.net]

Freeing the firmware

Posted Nov 4, 2004 17:38 UTC (Thu) by iabervon (subscriber, #722)
In reply to: Freeing the firmware by JoeBuck
Parent article: Freeing the firmware

More likely, Debian could decide that firmware images aren't supposed to be software, and so don't really have to fit the DFSG. It is, after all, merely an implementation detail that the firmware images need to be supplied by the OS, or that the firmware images could be changed outside the factory, or even that there is a general-purpose processor in the device at all.

It won't be the first file that Debian includes with the license "Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies, but changing it is not allowed." The first file Debian included with that license is one that they're unlikely to ever remove: the GPL license document.

(Log in to post comments)

Freeing the firmware

Posted Nov 4, 2004 22:08 UTC (Thu) by piman (subscriber, #8957) [Link]

> More likely, Debian could decide that firmware images aren't supposed to be software

In which case, Debian would be deciding something counter-factual. The firmware is clearly software.

> It is, after all, merely an implementation detail that the firmware images need to be supplied by the OS...

That it's only an implementation detail doesn't make it not software. It just makes the fact it's software an implementation detail. It's only an "implementation detail" that some printers require PS to be translated to their native format; does this mean that (e.g.) GIMP-Print isn't software?

Freeing the firmware

Posted Nov 4, 2004 23:58 UTC (Thu) by hazelsct (guest, #3659) [Link]

Irrelevant. Saying that you can't fix or extend a piece of software is very different from saying that you can't change a copyright notice and license.

To help understand this point, I recommend reading the discussions on the issue on debian-legal, particularly as your point is directed at Debian.

Allowed to redistribute but not to modify?

Posted Nov 6, 2004 1:49 UTC (Sat) by giraffedata (subscriber, #1954) [Link]

It won't be the first file that Debian includes with the license "Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies, but changing it is not allowed." The first file Debian included with that license is one that they're unlikely to ever remove: the GPL license document.

Surely it doesn't say that. I can't take the license file, change a few sentences, and distribute it as the license for some of my own code? That would be pretty unfree.

I presume it just says you're allowed to redistribute Debian code (or a derivation thereof) only if you include that file unmodified.

Allowed to redistribute but not to modify?

Posted Nov 6, 2004 2:50 UTC (Sat) by iabervon (subscriber, #722) [Link]

"Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed." is, in fact, the license on the GPL, as granted by the FSF (not Debian, who merely follows it). The FSF believes in people fitting software to their needs, but has no similar attitude towards licenses (or, many would argue, documentation).