Re: non-free firmware in kernel modules, aggregation and unclear copyright notice.

[Josselin Mouette <joss@debian.org>]

Le mardi 05 avril 2005 à 12:50 -0600, Chris Friesen a écrit :
> Josselin Mouette wrote:
> 
> > The fact is also that mixing them with a GPLed software gives
> > an result you can't redistribute - although it seems many people
> > disagree with that assertion now.
> 
> This is only true if the result is considered a "derivative work" of the 
> gpl'd code.
> 
> The GPL states "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."
> 
> Since the main cpu does not actually run the binary firmware, the fact 
> that it lives in main memory with the code that the cpu *does* run is 
> irrelevent.  In this case, the Debian stance is that the kernel proper 
> and the binary firmware are "merely aggregated" in a volume of storage ( 
> ie. system memory).

It merely depends on the definition of "aggregation". I'd say that two
works that are only aggregated can be easily distinguished and
separated. This is not the case for a binary kernel module, from which
you cannot easily extract the firmware and code parts.
-- 
 .''`.           Josselin Mouette        /\./\
: :' :           josselin.mouette@ens-lyon.org
`. `'                        joss@debian.org
  `-  Debian GNU/Linux -- The power of freedom

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