RE: License question

[Giuliano Pochini <pochini _at_ xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004, David Schwartz wrote:
>
> > Since their code is C++ I already rewote everything in C, but it
> > also contains the binary firmwares which I can't rewrite. That's
> > why I asked you about the license.
>
> 	Then you have another problem. You can't place something under the GPL if
> you don't have the source code to it.

This issue was raised on the list a few months ago. Someone's opinion was
that the firmware is not executed by the same processor that runs Linux,
thus it's data, not code. Uploading a firmware is like printing an image
on the screen. Anyway I can upload the firmware from userspace. On most
(but not all) cards I only need the firmware at startup, so I also save
memory. Some cards also have an ASIC which must be loaded. That data is
not code because it's not executed.


--
Giuliano.
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