Playing with the N800 [LWN.net]

Playing with the N800

Posted Mar 22, 2007 5:24 UTC (Thu) by JohnNilsson (subscriber, #41242)
Parent article: Playing with the N800

The N800 includes a (proprietary) Flash player and a media player as well.

Isn't that a GPL violation? (Assuming that the player can be seen "as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program" (GNU/Linux))

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Playing with the N800

Posted Mar 22, 2007 5:59 UTC (Thu) by tetromino (subscriber, #33846) [Link]

> Isn't that a GPL violation?

No.

Quoth the GPL:
>In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program
>with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of
>a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under
>the scope of this License.

Playing with the N800

Posted Mar 22, 2007 6:04 UTC (Thu) by JohnNilsson (subscriber, #41242) [Link]

I don't thing this device is "a volume of a storage or distribution medium". It has a purpose besides distribution.

Compare it to the Kororaa Project [1]

[1] http://kororaa.org/static.php?page=gpl

Playing with the N800

Posted Mar 22, 2007 9:07 UTC (Thu) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link]

Great. So put the flash player package on an SD card that comes with the
device, and have the user install it himself.

Anselm

Playing with the N800

Posted Mar 22, 2007 10:49 UTC (Thu) by gouyou (subscriber, #30290) [Link]

So most of the Linux PC sold with a distribution including non free software wouldn't be compliant ... That's pushing it far.

The Kororaa article talks about kernel drivers, not software depending in no way to GPL software.