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

Humberto Massa
2005-04-05T14:37:31Z

Jeff Garzik wrote:

>We do not add comments to the kernel source code which simply state the
>obvious.
>
> Jeff
>
>
Whoa, kind of harsh, isn't it? I'm just trying to help.

Anyway, the problem at hand is: people do *not* think there is anything
obvious.

For instance: many, many people do not consider binary hexdumps in .c/.h
files as source code; if you think so, you should state it in writing,
you know, to avoid lawyer attacks.

Another example: if you think it's obvious that the binary hexdump is
another work, aggregated to the GPL'd .c/.h file, then you should state
(again, in writing) which are the licensing terms of said work...
otherwise, no-one has a written license to redistribute it, leading
to... lawyer attacks.

HTH,

Massa