[U-Boot] U-book and GPLv3? (fwd)

Thomas Doerfler
2009-06-27T09:03:02Z

Detlev Zundel schrieb:
> Hi Jean-Christophe,
>
>> On 00:50 Fri 26 Jun , Richard Stallman wrote:
>>> If I use a GPLv3 bootloader in a medical tool, a car, Point of payment terminal,
>>> Military System, etc... it is a grave security flaw.
>>> I'm not sure that you will be very happy if someone can modify the Firmware
>>> freely. As you may loose money to be killed and at the extrem kill millions
>>> of people.
>>>
>>> There is no need to exaggerate. Millions of people modify cars
>>> physically, and it is not a dangerous practice.
>> It is.
>>> If you buy a car, or a medical tool for my own use, you deserve to be able
>>> to change the software in it, just as you can change it physically.
>> Certanly not when you use your car your are also on the public domain (road)
>> so it your car have a system faillure you can kill yourself and kill other
>> people. Remember that you are not allow to modify your car as your wish there
>> is law that will forbiden you to do this in a lot' of country.
>
> It seems that you have very strong interests on the software side, which
> need to be considered separately, but here you are really distorting
> actual reality. As this example is likely best known to everybody, I'll
> comment on this one - it seems currently too much work without a
> prospect of any gain to comment on everything.
>
> Of course you can modify your own car. This is *not* forbidden - why do
> you claim such a thing? Heck you can even attach a rocket to it *as
> long* as you don't use the car on public streets. If you do, all you
> got to do is to get your modifications approved. No big deal, go to a
> <insert favorite car brand here> meeting and look at the cars there.
>
> I can even build my own car from scratch and get it certified.
>
> Although I wanted to restrict myself to cars - it's the same with
> planes. It is common practice for example to modify glider planes
> (increasing wing span for example to be more competitive today) for
> which the manufacturer even *does not exist* any more today. Admittedly
> this is some work to get it certified, but it is doable by a private
> person for sure, I personally know some.
>
> Actually I can even build my own *plane* and still get it certified
> (this is not uncommon).
>
> Cheers
> Detlev
>

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