[Mageia-dev] Clarification on firmware licenses

Sat Jan 15 20:55:10 CET 2011

On Sat, Jan 15, 2011 at 19:34, Thomas Backlund <tmb at iki.fi> wrote:
+> Anssi Hannula skrev 15.1.2011 21:00:
+>>
+>> Hi all!
+>>
+>> Sorry for bringing this stuff up again, but it seems there is still some
+>> confusion regarding firmware licenses and to which repository put the
+>> various firmware packages.
+>>
+>> Clear cases:
+>> - open-source firmware with source code goes to core
+>> - firmware which doesn't allow modifications or has other similar
+>>   restrictions goes to non-free
+>>
+>> However, what to do with firmware that is licensed under a free license
+>> (e.g. BSD/GPL) that doesn't have source code?
+>> There are quite a few of those (see e.g. [1]).
+>>
+>> A quick look at other distros shows the following:
+>>
+>> Debian:
+>>  - All firmware without source code goes to non-free.
+>
+>
+> This is exactly how I have planned to clean up the firmware,
+> but I have not had the time yet...
+>
+
+I don't agree on that.
+A firmware under BSD licence is free data in my opinion whether or not
+it comes with source.
+On the opposite, anything under GPL without source "can't exist"...
+Either we consider it is GPL and we should be able to get source if
+requested and it has no reason to be in non-free, or it is not under
+GPL and can not be redistributed
+