CINXE.COM

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>LKML: Henning Makholm: Re: non-free firmware in kernel modules, aggregation and unclear copyright notice.</title><link href="/css/message.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /><link href="/css/wrap.css" rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" title="wrap" /><link href="/css/nowrap.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" title="nowrap" /><link href="/favicon.ico" rel="shortcut icon" /><script src="/js/simple-calendar.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="/js/styleswitcher.js" type="text/javascript"></script><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="lkml.org : last 100 messages" href="/rss.php" /><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="lkml.org : last messages by Henning Makholm" href="/groupie.php?aid=7945" /><script> var _paq = window._paq = window._paq || []; /* tracker methods like "setCustomDimension" should be called before "trackPageView" */ _paq.push(["setDoNotTrack", true]); _paq.push(["disableCookies"]); _paq.push(['trackPageView']); _paq.push(['enableLinkTracking']); (function() { var u="//m.lkml.org/"; _paq.push(['setTrackerUrl', u+'matomo.php']); _paq.push(['setSiteId', '1']); var d=document, g=d.createElement('script'), s=d.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; g.async=true; g.src=u+'matomo.js'; s.parentNode.insertBefore(g,s); })(); </script></head><body onload="es.jasper.simpleCalendar.init();" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td width="180" align="center"><a href="/"><img style="border:0;width:135px;height:32px" src="/images/toprowlk.gif" alt="lkml.org" /></a></td><td width="32">聽</td><td class="nb"><div><a class="nb" href="/lkml"> [lkml]</a> 聽 <a class="nb" href="/lkml/2005"> [2005]</a> 聽 <a class="nb" href="/lkml/2005/4"> [Apr]</a> 聽 <a class="nb" href="/lkml/2005/4/7"> [7]</a> 聽 <a class="nb" href="/lkml/last100"> [last100]</a> 聽 <a href="/rss.php"><img src="/images/rss-or.gif" border="0" alt="RSS Feed" /></a></div><div>Views: <a href="#" class="nowrap" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet('wrap');return false;">[wrap]</a><a href="#" class="wrap" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet('nowrap');return false;">[no wrap]</a> 聽 <a class="nb" href="/lkml/mheaders/2005/4/7/333" onclick="this.href='/lkml/headers'+'/2005/4/7/333';">[headers]</a>聽 <a href="/lkml/bounce/2005/4/7/333">[forward]</a>聽 </div></td><td width="32">聽</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><div class="es-jasper-simpleCalendar" baseurl="/lkml/"></div><div class="threadlist">Messages in this thread</div><ul class="threadlist"><li class="root"><a href="/lkml/2005/4/7/101">First message in thread</a></li><li><a href="/lkml/2005/4/7/312">Henning Makholm</a><ul><li><a href="/lkml/2005/4/7/319">"David Schwartz"</a><ul><li class="origin"><a href="/lkml/2005/4/8/62">Henning Makholm</a><ul><li><a href="/lkml/2005/4/8/62">Sven Luther</a></li><li><a href="/lkml/2005/4/8/259">"David Schwartz"</a><ul><li><a href="/lkml/2005/4/9/50">Henning Makholm</a></li></ul></li></ul></li><li><a href="/lkml/2005/4/8/3">Raul Miller</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="/lkml/2005/4/8/58">Sven Luther</a></li></ul></li></ul></td><td width="32" rowspan="2" class="c" valign="top"><img src="/images/icornerl.gif" width="32" height="32" alt="/" /></td><td class="c" rowspan="2" valign="top" style="padding-top: 1em"><table><tr><td><table><tr><td class="lp">Subject</td><td class="rp" itemprop="name">Re: non-free firmware in kernel modules, aggregation and unclear copyright notice.</td></tr><tr><td class="lp">From</td><td class="rp" itemprop="author">Henning Makholm <></td></tr><tr><td class="lp">Date</td><td class="rp" itemprop="datePublished">Fri, 08 Apr 2005 04:56:50 +0100</td></tr></table></td><td></td></tr></table><pre itemprop="articleBody">Scripsit "David Schwartz" <davids@webmaster.com><br />[quoting me]<br /><br />>> No, it is completely wrong to say that the object file is merely an<br />>> aggregation. The two components are being coupled much more tightly<br />>> than in the situation that the GPL discribes as "mere aggregation".<br /><br />> Would you maintain this position even if the firmware is identical<br />> across operating systems and the Linux driver is identical across different<br />> firmware builds for different hardware implementations?<br /><br />Yes I would. Linking forms a tighter coupling than just placing the<br />two parts side by side on a filesystem designed for general storage of<br />byte streams. There is more to say about the situation than the naked<br />fact that that they are aggreated on the same medium; ergo the<br />sutiation does not constitute *only* aggregation, and the "mere<br />aggregation" language of the GPL does not apply.<br /><br />In particular, the end of GPL #2 does not provide a blanket exception<br />for all forms of aggregation; it specifically speaks about aggregation<br />"on a volume of a storage or distribution medium".<br /><br />> Note that the issue is not whether the GPL describes this as "mere<br />> aggregation" because the GPL doesn't get to set its own scope.<br /><br />The scope of the copyright of the original work includes situation<br />where part of that original work is being copied (excluding fair use<br />and other jurisdiction-specific exceptions). In order to do such<br />copying, you need permission from the copyright holder of the original<br />work. If all the permission you have is the GPL, the copyihg you are<br />doing had better fall into the class of copying that the GPL provides<br />a permission for.<br /><br />It *is*, therefore, relevant, whether the GPL's special conditions for<br />works "that in whole or in part contains the Program" apply to the<br />linked object files.<br /><br />> The issue is whether the resulting binary is a single work (that is<br />> derivative of the GPL'd driver) or whether it's two works with a<br />> license boundary between them.<br /><br />A reasonable person can disagree about whether the word "work" in GPL<br />#2(b) is meant to exclude non-trivial aggregations that do not add<br />creative choice to that already expressed in the components.<br /><br />However, I don't think a reasonable person can argue that even if 2(b)<br />had said "byte stream" instead of "work" it would not have been<br />legally potent to demand GPL-compatible licensing of the firmware as a<br />condition for the permission to copy the GPL-covered part of the byte<br />stream.<br /><br />> It would not be obviously unreasonable to argue that the NE2000 API<br />> constitutes a license boundary between the two works, each of which stays on<br />> its own side of that API.<br /><br />No, it wouldn't be obviously unreasonable for a license to recognize<br />such a "license boundary". However, as I see it the GPL happens not to<br />do this.<br /><br />> Lacking clear court guidance, I see it as a threshold issue. One<br />> primary issue (I think) is to what extent that firmware and the driver have<br />> been customized for each other. A work that is carefully designed to mesh<br />> tightly with another work is analogous to a sequel, which is a derivative<br />> work.<br /><br />I think the "derivative work" angle is a red herring. I do not think<br />that either of the two parts that are being linked together (i.e. the<br />driver and the firmware) are derivates of the other. The relevant<br />point is that distribution of the linked _result_ is nevertheless<br />subject to the condition in GPL #2, which is in general the only<br />source we have for a permission to distribute a non-verbatim-source<br />form of the driver.<br /><br />-- <br />Henning Makholm "... and that Greek, Thucydides"<br />-<br />To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in<br />the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org<br />More majordomo info at <a href="http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html">http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html</a><br />Please read the FAQ at <a href="http://www.tux.org/lkml/">http://www.tux.org/lkml/</a><br /><br /></pre></td><td width="32" rowspan="2" class="c" valign="top"><img src="/images/icornerr.gif" width="32" height="32" alt="\" /></td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="bottom"> 聽 </td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="bottom">聽</td><td class="c" valign="bottom" style="padding-bottom: 0px"><img src="/images/bcornerl.gif" width="32" height="32" alt="\" /></td><td class="c">聽</td><td class="c" valign="bottom" style="padding-bottom: 0px"><img src="/images/bcornerr.gif" width="32" height="32" alt="/" /></td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top" colspan="2"> 聽 </td><td class="lm">Last update: 2005-04-08 06:04 聽聽 [from the cache]<br />漏2003-2020 <a href="http://blog.jasper.es/"><span itemprop="editor">Jasper Spaans</span></a>|hosted at <a href="https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=9a8e99d24cf9">Digital Ocean</a> and my Meterkast|<a href="http://blog.jasper.es/categories.html#lkml-ref">Read the blog</a></td><td>聽</td></tr></table><script language="javascript" src="/js/styleswitcher.js" type="text/javascript"></script></body></html>