From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Ben Hutchings Subject: Re: [PATCH kernel 2.6.32-rc5] pcnet_cs: add cis of PreMax PE-200 ethernet pcmcia card Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:02:21 +0000 Message-ID: <1267747341.2819.177.camel@localhost> References: <20091025111000.2d97e595.ken_kawasaki@spring.nifty.jp> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg="pgp-sha1"; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="=-CxUpAMNuZXGXg76DLMyA" Cc: netdev@vger.kernel.org, David Woodhouse To: Ken Kawasaki Return-path: Received: from shadbolt.e.decadent.org.uk ([88.96.1.126]:33952 "EHLO shadbolt.e.decadent.org.uk" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1753836Ab0CEAC1 (ORCPT ); Thu, 4 Mar 2010 19:02:27 -0500 In-Reply-To: <20091025111000.2d97e595.ken_kawasaki@spring.nifty.jp> Sender: netdev-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: --=-CxUpAMNuZXGXg76DLMyA Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Sun, 2009-10-25 at 11:10 +0900, Ken Kawasaki wrote: > Hi, >=20 > >> > Random question: are CIS files copyrightable? =20 > >>=20 > >> The CIS contains the IRQ, ioport-range, voltage information etc > >> like the PCI config space. > >> So I think it is not copyrightable. > >> but Sierra Wireless provided this CIS by GPL. > >[...] >=20 > >If it is subject to copyright - which apparently they think it is - then > >when redistributing under GPL we must be able to provide the 'preferred > >form for modification'. So that leads to the question, is this blob or > >hex file the preferred form? >=20 >=20 > (1)The CIS contains data only, > does not contain the code to be executed. > (2)Sierra Wireless provided the binary of the CIS only. > (3)These CIS are stable and does not need to be modified. > (3)The content of the CIS can be seen by the dump_cis utility. >=20 > So if someone want to modify the CIS , I think it is OK > to use hex editor. The CIS files under firmware/ are, according to firmware/WHENCE, 'developed by the pcmcia-cs project'. So I had a look at what's left of the pcmcia-cs project and its last release, and found that it includes: - the tool 'pack_cis' which compiles a text version of CIS to the standard binary format - text versions of most of the CIS files Since the text versions contain comments which are excluded from the binary format, I believe they should be considered the 'preferred form for modification' and included in the linux-2.6 and linux-firmware trees along with the binaries. Ben. --=20 Ben Hutchings Q. Which is the greater problem in the world today, ignorance or apathy? A. I don't know and I couldn't care less. --=-CxUpAMNuZXGXg76DLMyA Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" Content-Description: This is a digitally signed message part -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (GNU/Linux) iQIVAwUAS5BKCee/yOyVhhEJAQKfQQ//TNi5I5hlFQBfIX2iPELnbJjoTgPvVZT4 JROTv/6pplY+F+JMhJlHgemTT9bSgtvsOjW6sJLbDU+uNSHBkE/rnFCGsFzbpVg5 9AvU1Qj6b+clXdjXPW8kQiyn8jbxaGKtoAHLBUa2NWK5098rvUlMap/pu9TOZGNa RNYhWt4iV3MzyySvh8/6N3zmpz55Cv7Idqjxd/olbZciiTVfi4KOdoS+9NwPi5jW 1yXCUD0q5GpqSuFVeapqv3Fjs5hSHQy9S6RD3p/ri+9eKCwUWrTcwxgIA+Ae81sz Tbk3jDnrq3/az4YfHcTMc8s9HZGQ38VH9PNAW/D472SdeBYX5qp5xba/bYOGNznE ZbUKwNGgW5KiRUlK8QRPQAwOcI2o1Ihn5ENyeKHO90L6vKTVCYy9Wm2iVIXQb4u0 my7OTgAZG7RkvxGHf5FwrBJVXmEQpHJ+6GLgUexZKHPdOJmkq6dO/dp5tXzXG0oV kVS6WPfY73FFzxmuxaJ2bdQw1qw9EOuQVoy2CaukAY7prH9aNA9OuWOKllOw/klo IoZXH+qFpSx5GUAGkMg29I6/eohaMDHlASoMmtKOGINpQNW9djiK6WrxkCKmZUpa t6vR6mjEF9+yKb/Ppf2N0wjYDHSgbJKvv1pLlIQiUofKc6nEVdES3rfATPVqloUV XbAl11sOtdQ= =7dSg -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --=-CxUpAMNuZXGXg76DLMyA--