[Fedora-legal-list] Fwd: consider a b43-firmware package like this?

[John W. Linville]

I sent this to the rpmfusion-developers list yesterday.  It occurred
to me that it might be worth sending here too...

So, is there any chance that the wording below justifies or leads to
approval of a b43-firwmare package in the official Fedora repository?
If so, then I will cease my efforts to get such a package into RPM
Fusion.  It certainly would be better for our users to have these
packages in the main repository rather than in a 3rd party one.

Thanks for your consideration!

John

P.S.  Regarding my reference to "any Fedora Authority", all my Fedora
project inquiries thus far have been 1:1 or 1:few between me and the
interested parties.  This is my first formal inquiry on this issue.

----- Forwarded message from "John W. Linville" <linville at tuxdriver.com> -----

> Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:01:27 -0500
> From: "John W. Linville" <linville at tuxdriver.com>
> To: rpmfusion-developers at lists.rpmfusion.org
> Subject: consider a b43-firmware package like this?
> 
> Greetings,
> 
> Probably some of you know my name and my role with Fedora and the
> Linux kernel.  If not, then suffice it to say that I am very interested
> in having people get wireless working as easily as possible.
> 
> One problem that often hinders users in that regard is firmware for
> their wireless devices.  Fortunately, Fedora has accepted firmware
> packages in the main repository for some time.  And, we have had
> good success with getting firmware made available under suitable
> licenses for Fedora.  Still, one particular vendor has been non-
> (but not necessarily anti-)cooperative: Broadcom.  This is a problem,
> as their devices are quite common.
> 
> The "approved" firmware for use with the b43 and b43legacy drivers
> comes from the OpenWRT website, where it is provided as part of larger
> MIPS binaries.  AFAIK Broadcom has never bothered OpenWRT about this,
> yet neither have they offered an explicitly stated license for this
> practice.
> 
> The MIPS binaries from the OpenWRT site in turn come from packages
> distributed by wireless AP vendors in order to comply with the GPL.
> The MIPS binaries are pre-compiled in those packages, but they are
> clearly intended to be linked into Linux kernels to run on those APs.
> In my mind, this at least implies intent that it is alright to
> redistribute these binaries.
> 
> So, I have created packages which use these AP vendor's GPL packages as
> sources, extract the MIPS binaries, then further extract the wireless
> firmware using b43-fwcutter.  It is a bit odd in that the src.rpm file
> (containing the AP vendor code) is huge, while the binary rpm file
> is tiny.  But, they work just fine. :-)  I have packages for both
> b43 and b43legacy.  I will include the COPYING file I composed for
> inclusion in the b43 firmware package below.  I have a similar one for
> the b43legacy package.
> 
> Perhaps not surprisingly, the string of arguments above has yet to
> sway any Fedora authority to bless these packages.  So I wonder,
> is the case above strong enough to merit including such packages in
> RPM Fusion?  If that seems likely, then I'll be happy to submit the
> packages for your review.  Obviously this would seem to belong in the
> "non free" section...
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> John
> 
> P.S.  COPYING file from the b43-firmware package below.  (The "by
> permission of" bit was suggested by someone else -- I'm happy to
> augment it or remove it as anyone might suggest...)
> 
> ---
> 
> Redistributed by permission of Broadcom in binary form only, no
> modifications permitted.
> 
> The source archive for this package was reached through a link at
> the following URL:
> 
>     http://www.linksys.com/gpl/
> 
> The text at that location reads as follows:
> 
> 	GPL Code Center
> 
> 	The source code files available on this page have been provided
> 	under one or more open source licenses. Select your Linksys
> 	product model and a firmware version from the list below to
> 	download the source code library.
> 
> 	The source code found here is complete to the best of
> 	Linksys’ knowledge. If you believe any additional
> 	source code files should be provided under the
> 	applicable open source license, please contact Linksys at
> 	linksys-opensource at linksys.com and provide in detail the
> 	product or code module in question. Linksys is committed to
> 	meeting the requirements of the open source licenses including
> 	the GNU General Public License (GPL) and will make all required
> 	source code available.
> 
> The following URL is the direct link to the archive used as the source
> of this package:
> 
>     ftp://ftp.linksys.com/opensourcecode/wrt350n/1.03.2/WRT350N_v1.03.2_US.tgz
> 
> The source archive was specifically provided by Linksys in order to
> fulfill obligations arising from distribution of software licensed
> under the GPL and other open source licenses.  Given that fact,
> it is reasonable to infer that redistribution of the archive itself
> and the contents of that archive is accepted by Linksys, Broadcom,
> and any other copyright holders.
> -- 
> John W. Linville
> linville at tuxdriver.com

----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
John W. Linville
linville at tuxdriver.com