From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Anthony Liguori Subject: Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH 0/3] Add BIOS splash image support Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:14:26 -0600 Message-ID: <49493372.3020205@codemonkey.ws> References: <1229440810-12394-1-git-send-email-Laurent.Vivier@bull.net> <20081217135512.GJ13794@redhat.com> <49491281.9040505@siemens.com> <200812171517.52718.paul@codesourcery.com> <49492A6D.6@siemens.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Paul Brook , Blue Swirl , bochs developers , Gleb Natapov , kvm developers To: qemu-devel@nongnu.org Return-path: Received: from qw-out-2122.google.com ([74.125.92.25]:47335 "EHLO qw-out-2122.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751115AbYLQROf (ORCPT ); Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:14:35 -0500 Received: by qw-out-2122.google.com with SMTP id 3so850814qwe.37 for ; Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:14:33 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <49492A6D.6@siemens.com> Sender: kvm-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: Jan Kiszka wrote: > Paul Brook wrote: > >>> BTW, why does qemu not carry all bochs bios source? For reference, but >>> also to fully comply with the LGPL (pointing to the original source is >>> not sufficient when delivering binaries - like e.g. bios.bin...). >>> >> If this is really an issue, then I strongly suggest we fix it by moving the >> bios into its own project, and have everyone fetch it from there. >> > > Qemu distributes binaries that have been generated from LGPLed sources > (this is at least the case for bochs, one would have to check the > situation for the other firmware images), so it has to provide the > corresponding source code according to the license terms. You are not qualified to make the statement "has to". This is a legal issue and depends on how the GPL is interpreted. The FSF provides a set of guidelines and so does Debian. Debian's guidelines are more extreme. If you look at the FSF FAQ on this subject, the main issue is ensuring that the source code is always available. Since Bochs is on SF, as long as we ensure that the version we base on is always available, you could certainly conclude that's enough. But please, this is not an issue worth even discussing here. It is only relevant for people distributing QEMU and it's up to those people to consult with their legal teams to determine whether they need to do anything special. Regards, Anthony Liguori