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Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 18:28:17 -0600 (MDT)
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From: Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com>
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To: joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de (Joerg Wunsch)
Cc: hackers@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Minor linux_emul update
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	<199706030734.RAA02671@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au>
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> > > Why pirate?  Somehow, you must generate the number, one way or the
> > > other.  You know it...  I've got no ethernet at all, so what's the
> > > returned number?
> > 
> > It's empty, and you require a different license type.
> 
...
> 
> An ethernet address is about as ``secure'' as any other arbitrarily
> invented number.  I can forge an ethernet address as well on almost
> any modern ethernet card, the times when they have been set in stone
> by a GAL or other hardware have long since gone anyway.  They are
> stored in EEPROMs these days (so it at worst requires a soldering
> iron).

Anyone qualified enough to burn an EEPROM or forge an ethernet address
is probably able to figure out how to un-engineer the licensing scheme.
Licensing schemes are only as good as the people using the software.

> I think it should be invented at the first use, and stored in some
> configuration file then.  Even Slowarlis (x86) does it this way.  The
> (Un-)FlexLM suits seem to can live with this.

Copying a file is *much* easier to do, and can be done by even the most
unqualified computer user.  The licensing folks need a way to tie the
license to a particular piece of hardware, and files simply don't cut
it.  An ethernet card/address is *generally* much more static than any
other piece of hardware in a particular machine.  Unfortunately, there
is no complete solution to the problem, so a 'best guess' is good
enough.



Nate

ps. Please leave me in the Cc: list when replying.