[PATCH] linux-firmware: Add firmware file for r8712u (RTL8192SU)

[PATCH] linux-firmware: Add firmware file for r8712u (RTL8192SU)

[Larry Finger]

>From e08609526c289eb678578b5c01cd007574939a48 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Larry Finger <Larry.Finger@lwfinger.net>
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2010 08:55:36 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] Add firmware for Realtek RTL8192SU, aka rtl8712u, to linux-firmware.

Signed-off-by: Larry Finger <Larry.Finger@lwfinger.net>
---

David,

Despite the indication below, this patch file does not actually contain the firmware.
I have sent it this way to avoid spamming mailboxes with the 122 KB binary file, yet
have the revised text of WHENCE available for reviewing.

To obtain everything, please pull from
git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/lwfinger/r8712u_firmware.git

Larry
---

 WHENCE       |   27 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 rtl8712u.bin |  Bin 0 -> 122328 bytes
 2 files changed, 27 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 rtl8712u.bin

diff --git a/WHENCE b/WHENCE
index 01a1262..7d362fc 100644
--- a/WHENCE
+++ b/WHENCE
@@ -1401,3 +1401,30 @@ File: bcm4329-fullmac-4-218-248-5.bin
 File: bcm4329-fullmac-4-218-248-5.txt
 
 Licence: Redistributable. See LICENCE.broadcom_bcm43xx for details.
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Driver: r8712u - Reaktek 802.11n wireless LAN driver
+
+File: rtl8712u.bin
+
+Licence:
+
+ * Copyright(c) 2007 - 2010 Realtek Corporation. All rights reserved.
+ * Linux device driver for RTL8192SU
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+ * under the terms of version 2 of the GNU General Public License as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+ * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for
+ * more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
+ * this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ * 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110, USA
+
+The firmware is included as hex in the original source.
+

Re: [PATCH] linux-firmware: Add firmware file for r8712u (RTL8192SU)

[David Woodhouse]

On Tue, 2010-10-19 at 10:54 -0500, Larry Finger wrote:
> + * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
> + * under the terms of version 2 of the GNU General Public License as
> + * published by the Free Software Foundation. 

Where is the source code, then?

-- 
dwmw2

Re: [PATCH] linux-firmware: Add firmware file for r8712u (RTL8192SU)

[Larry Finger]

On 10/19/2010 10:58 AM, David Woodhouse wrote:
> On Tue, 2010-10-19 at 10:54 -0500, Larry Finger wrote:
>> + * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
>> + * under the terms of version 2 of the GNU General Public License as
>> + * published by the Free Software Foundation. 
> 
> Where is the source code, then?
> 

The source code for the driver with inline firmware is in linux-next in
drivers/staging/rtl8712 and was pushed through GregKH.

Larry

Re: [PATCH] linux-firmware: Add firmware file for r8712u (RTL8192SU)

[David Woodhouse]

On Tue, 2010-10-19 at 11:07 -0500, Larry Finger wrote:
> On 10/19/2010 10:58 AM, David Woodhouse wrote:
> > On Tue, 2010-10-19 at 10:54 -0500, Larry Finger wrote:
> >> + * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
> >> + * under the terms of version 2 of the GNU General Public License as
> >> + * published by the Free Software Foundation. 
> > 
> > Where is the source code, then?
> > 
> 
> The source code for the driver with inline firmware is in linux-next in
> drivers/staging/rtl8712 and was pushed through GregKH.

No. If you're stating that the *firmware* is under GPL, then we need to
see the source code for the firmware. If not, try another description of
the licence on the firmware.

-- 
dwmw2

Re: [PATCH] linux-firmware: Add firmware file for r8712u (RTL8192SU)

[Larry Finger]

On 10/19/2010 11:08 AM, David Woodhouse wrote:
> On Tue, 2010-10-19 at 11:07 -0500, Larry Finger wrote:
>> On 10/19/2010 10:58 AM, David Woodhouse wrote:
>>> On Tue, 2010-10-19 at 10:54 -0500, Larry Finger wrote:
>>>> + * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
>>>> + * under the terms of version 2 of the GNU General Public License as
>>>> + * published by the Free Software Foundation. 
>>>
>>> Where is the source code, then?
>>>
>>
>> The source code for the driver with inline firmware is in linux-next in
>> drivers/staging/rtl8712 and was pushed through GregKH.
> 
> No. If you're stating that the *firmware* is under GPL, then we need to
> see the source code for the firmware. If not, try another description of
> the licence on the firmware.

In the source code originally provided by Realtek, the firmware is inlined in a
header file. Unfortunately, it does not have any license information provided
and starts with

/* Firmware */
static const unsigned char f_array[122328] = {
0x12, 0x87, 0xEC, 0x11, 0x30, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x08, 0xE8, 0x00, 0x00,
0x50, 0xF5, 0x00, 0x00, 0x30, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x98, 0xF3, 0x00, 0x00,

The license information that I put into WHENCE is in the source-code file that
contains the MODULE_LICENSE(GPL) statement. As the firmware header file is part
of that set of files, I thought the GPL license would apply to all. Is that not
so? If not, I'm not sure how to proceed.

Larry

Re: [PATCH] linux-firmware: Add firmware file for r8712u (RTL8192SU)

[Arnd Bergmann]

On Tuesday 19 October 2010 18:26:23 Larry Finger wrote:
> The license information that I put into WHENCE is in the source-code file that
> contains the MODULE_LICENSE(GPL) statement. As the firmware header file is part
> of that set of files, I thought the GPL license would apply to all. Is that not
> so? If not, I'm not sure how to proceed.

In theory, the person that added the firmware files to the kernel under the
terms of the GPL or anyone who distributed them before should be able to provide
the source code for the firmware.

If you think that the driver has been developed legally, just ask the author
of the firmware for the source and add it to your patch.

If you don't think it was done correctly, try to get a license for redistributing
the firmware as binary and list the license terms in the WHENCE file.

Hint: some files of the driver contain these "interesting" conditions:

/*
 * Copyright(c) 2008 - 2010 Realtek Corporation. All rights reserved.
 * Linux device driver for RTL8192U
 *
 * Based on the r8187 driver, which is:
 * Copyright 2004-2005 Andrea Merello <andreamrl@tiscali.it>, et al.
 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 * under the terms of version 2 of the GNU General Public License as
 * published by the Free Software Foundation.

	Arnd

Re: [PATCH] linux-firmware: Add firmware file for r8712u (RTL8192SU)

[Larry Finger]

On 10/19/2010 12:35 PM, Arnd Bergmann wrote:
> On Tuesday 19 October 2010 18:26:23 Larry Finger wrote:
>> The license information that I put into WHENCE is in the source-code file that
>> contains the MODULE_LICENSE(GPL) statement. As the firmware header file is part
>> of that set of files, I thought the GPL license would apply to all. Is that not
>> so? If not, I'm not sure how to proceed.
> 
> In theory, the person that added the firmware files to the kernel under the
> terms of the GPL or anyone who distributed them before should be able to provide
> the source code for the firmware.
>
> If you think that the driver has been developed legally, just ask the author
> of the firmware for the source and add it to your patch.


I was the one that added the drive, including the firmware file, to the kernel.
I know the driver was developed legally. I took source files that contain a GPL
license (including the firmware source) from the Realtek public site, cleaned up
the driver, added a copyright for my changes, and got permission from Realtek to
submit the result to the staging directory through Greg K-H. Greg requested a
TODO item to take the firmware currently embedded in a header file with 10,197
lines and 734,033 characters, extract it from the driver, and submit it to
linux-firmware, which is what I'm trying to do now. Once the firmware is
accepted and distros get the new version of linux-firmware, I will submit the
changes that use the standard firmware-loading mechanism to get external
firmware, and delete that large header file. Those changes are now in use on my
system.

> If you don't think it was done correctly, try to get a license for redistributing
> the firmware as binary and list the license terms in the WHENCE file.
> 
> Hint: some files of the driver contain these "interesting" conditions:
> 
> /*
>  * Copyright(c) 2008 - 2010 Realtek Corporation. All rights reserved.
>  * Linux device driver for RTL8192U
>  *
>  * Based on the r8187 driver, which is:
>  * Copyright 2004-2005 Andrea Merello <andreamrl@tiscali.it>, et al.
>  * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
>  * under the terms of version 2 of the GNU General Public License as
>  * published by the Free Software Foundation.

That Merello copyright really has little to do with the current driver. As
Realtek included it in their source, I left it in, but consider it to be an
honorary citation.

Larry

Re: [PATCH] linux-firmware: Add firmware file for r8712u (RTL8192SU)

[Arnd Bergmann]

On Tuesday 19 October 2010 20:21:53 Larry Finger wrote:
> 
> I was the one that added the drive, including the firmware file, to the kernel.
> I know the driver was developed legally. I took source files that contain a GPL
> license (including the firmware source) from the Realtek public site, cleaned up
> the driver, added a copyright for my changes, and got permission from Realtek to
> submit the result to the staging directory through Greg K-H. 

Ok, so if you have the firmware source, add a proper make file and the source along
with the binary file. You made it sound like the you only had the firmware as
a hexdump, which would not be possible under the GPLv2 section 3, which says
"The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making
modifications to it".

> > Hint: some files of the driver contain these "interesting" conditions:
> > 
> > /*
> >  * Copyright(c) 2008 - 2010 Realtek Corporation. All rights reserved.
> >  * Linux device driver for RTL8192U
> >  *
> >  * Based on the r8187 driver, which is:
> >  * Copyright 2004-2005 Andrea Merello <andreamrl@tiscali.it>, et al.
> >  * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
> >  * under the terms of version 2 of the GNU General Public License as
> >  * published by the Free Software Foundation.
> 
> That Merello copyright really has little to do with the current driver. As
> Realtek included it in their source, I left it in, but consider it to be an
> honorary citation.

That part is fine, what is not fine is the "All rights reserved" portion, which
contradicts the GPL.

	Arnd

Re: [PATCH] linux-firmware: Add firmware file for r8712u (RTL8192SU)

[Larry Finger]

On 10/19/2010 03:29 PM, Arnd Bergmann wrote:
> On Tuesday 19 October 2010 20:21:53 Larry Finger wrote:
>
> Ok, so if you have the firmware source, add a proper make file and the source along
> with the binary file. You made it sound like the you only had the firmware as
> a hexdump, which would not be possible under the GPLv2 section 3, which says
> "The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making
> modifications to it".

Having a patch with the full firmware source and the binary as well seems a bit
large, but I will supply it that way.

>> That Merello copyright really has little to do with the current driver. As
>> Realtek included it in their source, I left it in, but consider it to be an
>> honorary citation.
> 
> That part is fine, what is not fine is the "All rights reserved" portion, which
> contradicts the GPL.

Yes, it is schizophrenic, but I left it the way it was.

Larry