Linksys partial source release. [LWN.net]

From:		David Woodhouse <dwmw2-AT-infradead.org>
To:		editor-AT-lwn.net
Subject:		Linksys partial source release.
Date:		Fri, 10 Oct 2003 08:23:45 +0100

Linksys/Cisco have now made some source available at
http://www.linksys.com/support/gpl.asp

Unfortunately it is not complete -- it does not contain the source to
the wireless driver.

I'd like you, if you would, to invite your readers to consider these
questions:

1. Kernel modules cannot be compiled without the Linux kernel, and
   use a wide range of internal interfaces.

   Are kernel modules derived from the Linux kernel?

2. The wireless and Ethernet driver modules are distributed within
   a cramfs file system in a flash image on a chip soldered to the
   board of the device.

   Are they being distributed 'as separate works'?

3. The fundamental mode of operation of these devices is to
   receive network packets from one of the drivers, pass them
   through the Linux kernel routing or bridging code, and then
   back out through another of the network interfaces. All 
   three parts of this are indispensable and the product is 
   useless without any one part.

   A) Does this form a whole which is a derived work based on the
      Linux kernel?

   B) Does this form a whole which is a collective work?

   C) Is this collective work based, in part, on the Linux kernel?

4. Refer back to the facts in question 2. Is this 'mere aggregation
   of a work not based on the [kernel] on a volume of a storage or
   distribution medium'?
  
Now reread §2 of the GPL. More carefully than I ever had before a
fortnight or so ago, and in particular the final three paragraphs.

There's also the matter of their packaging, which still includes neither
a written offer or source code, nor the source code itself (which in
fact Cisco don't even seem to _possess_ at this point).

It's clear that Cisco must immediately cease and desist distribution of
these products until or unless they can comply with the GPL. Failure to
do this is a criminal offence in most countries, and also places their
retail channels at risk of prosecution.

-- 
dwmw2

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The GPL says...

Posted Oct 10, 2003 23:22 UTC (Fri) by dwmw2 (subscriber, #2063) [Link]

These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.

Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or collective works based on the Program.

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.