The 2.6.28-libre kernel is out
The 2.6.28-libre kernel is out
Posted Dec 29, 2008 1:02 UTC (Mon) by dlang (guest, #313)In reply to: The 2.6.28-libre kernel is out by lxoliva
Parent article: The 2.6.28 kernel is out
the result may not work, but even without firmware, if you modify the data that gets set into hardware registers the result may not work (and may permanently damage/brick the hardware in the process)
if there is any firmware that is being distributed without the copyright owners permission then speak up, otherwise you should assume good faith on the part of the people who submitted the code (after all, you assume it for everything else they submitted)
this assumes that the firmware even qualifies for copyright in the first place. think of the firmware in the lexmark printer cartridges that the courts rules could be copied bit for bit by clone cartridge manufacturers because it was necessary for interoperability.
Posted Dec 29, 2008 1:51 UTC (Mon)
by lxoliva (guest, #40702)
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That the exclusion power of copyright cannot be used to stop certain uses doesn't mean the code doesn't qualify for copyright. I very much doubt you'd be able to get the same kind of exception the courts allowed, for Lexmark clone cartridge manufacturers to duplicate creative works added for the specific purpose of using copyright to prevent interoperability, to the non-Free programs that run on peripherals' CPUs, and that could be programmed differently and would function just fine, if only we knew how to make such arbitrary programs for them. But hey, IANAL, give it a try and maybe we'll all get lucky.
Not that getting permission to distribute those bits (which we already have, at least for some of them) would do much towards enabling them to be lawfully distributed as part of a larger GPL work. The interoperability claims would hardly get you permission to modify the work as extensively as required by the GPL. And, if you distribute it nevertheless, *any* of the copyright holders might notify you that your license is terminated, and get an injunction to stop you from modifying, distributing and, in some countries, even running the program, regardless of who induced you to the error. Then what? Why would you accept that kind of risk, when there are much safer alternatives?
The 2.6.28-libre kernel is out