Recommendation: no GPLv3 for Solaris
Posted Feb 11, 2007 0:07 UTC (Sun) by
mmarq (guest, #2332)
In reply to:
Recommendation: no GPLv3 for Solaris by ernest
Parent article:
Recommendation: no GPLv3 for Solaris
"" GPLv2 cannot prevent this. I understand this is one of the points which
GPLv3 wants to correct. ""
Neither can any GPLv3 guarantee that, because;
"" Sources can be GPL, be freely distributable, and can be recompiled and
redistributed by anybody for a specific device. But binary code is
useless as the devices searches for and requires a signature serounding
the binary code before it will allow it to run. "
the key to make that signature can be guarded in a ROM, accessible only by the original manufactor. Because BIOS are erasable, LinuxBIOS should be an option. Meanwhile what a licence can do is invalidate irself, as in a contract, if a particular hardware system dont provide a mean to make a public GPL OS repository runnable. It cant force the hardware manufactor of anything he dosent contract, but only prevent public abuse, i. e., an OS from a public repository cannot be distributable in that particular hardware system.
Ma$ter is laughing of course, of the so much possibility of pre-intalled Linux systems. But putting all kind of emotions aside, what is clear(at least to me) is that there will be enough hardware systems where private DRM schemes can be by-passed or there will be no Open Source movement. Only the Big Boys cross-licencees, will make contributions to common distributed repositorys... but that wont be Open Source.
(
Log in to post comments)