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

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Date:	Tue, 19 Oct 2010 13:21:53 -0500
From:	Larry Finger <Larry.Finger@...inger.net>
To:	Arnd Bergmann <arnd@...db.de>
CC:	David Woodhouse <dwmw2@...radead.org>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] linux-firmware: Add firmware file for r8712u (RTL8192SU)

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@...cali.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
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