On Jun 18, 2008, Les Mikesell <lesmikesell(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Alexandre Oliva wrote:
>
>> The question is, does taking some code and an opaque binary blob and
>> sticking them in the same file make a 'work as a whole' or is it
>> identifiable sections of code and separate data that are not derived
>> from the Program?
> This only matters if you distribute them as separate works. When
you
> distribute them as a whole, you don't get the exception.
Separate sections.
Yep.
this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections *when*
you distribute them as *separate* works. But *when* you distribute
the same sections as *part* of a *whole* which is a work based on
the Program, the distribution of the *whole* *must* be on the terms
of this License (emphasis mine)
You can't just disregard the parts you don't like.
> Read again, very carefully, the sentence you quoted. Especially
the
> "when you distribute them as separate works" part.
Note that it doesn't say anything about files there.
Exactly. It talks about distributing them as separate works (not as
separate sections, as you seem to read it), or as a whole work.
Say, is the microcode_ctl package a copyrightable work?
How about linux-2.6.25.tar.bz2?
How about bzImage?
>> Would the code continue to work if you replace those bits
with
>> something else that would work in the hardware it loads?
> Whether it works or not is not relevant to tell whether it's
derived.
How else could you tell if the parts are related or not, unless you
were part of the creative process.
It's trivial to tell there was a creative process in that expression,
and that's enough to establish copyrightability.
>> But why not stick to the CPU microcode example?
> Because you got the facts wrong. It's not distributed even
close to
> the kernel.
Does 'close' have something to do with whether it is a
separate
section or not? Isn't it in the same vmlinuz imaage somewhere?
No. You got your facts completely wrong. The CPU microcode you're
talking about is in the package microcode_ctl. It's a separate rpm.
Totally unrelated with the kernel rpm.
--
Alexandre Oliva
http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
Free Software Evangelist oliva(a){lsd.ic.unicamp.br, gnu.org}
FSFLA Board Member ¡Sé Libre! =>
http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer aoliva(a){redhat.com, gcc.gnu.org}