Date: Wed, 14 May 2003 18:02:13 +0200 (CEST) From: Harti Brandt <brandt@fokus.fraunhofer.de> To: arch@freebsd.org Subject: Where to place this firmware Message-ID: <20030514172614.F737@beagle.fokus.fraunhofer.de>
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[-- Attachment #1 --] Hi, The FORE ATM adapters need a firmware. In the past this has been a source of frustration because there has been a lot of firmware versions not all of which work with our drivers, but the firmware has been under copyright. Recently I found out, that FORE has released its binary version of the firmware into the public domain (probably just before they were sold to Marconi). Linux includes a binary fimware file plus a copyright that I have attached. Given this copyright where would one put the firmware into the tree? There are basically two methods of using it: 1) Put it into a kernel module that is loaded/unloaded during device initialisation. Would this be possible (not from a technical point of view, but from a legal one: would the copyright infect the kernel? Would it be enough if the firmware itself lived in sys/contrib?) 2) Put it into src/contrib/... and load it into the kernel via a sysctl or something like that. This obviously wouldn't infect anything. I would rather prefer 1) because it does not need something magic before saying 'ifconfig up'. What would our copyright experts say? harti -- harti brandt, http://www.fokus.fraunhofer.de/research/cc/cats/employees/hartmut.brandt/private brandt@fokus.fraunhofer.de, harti@freebsd.org [-- Attachment #2 --] These microcode data are placed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. We would prefer you not to distribute modified versions of it and not to ask for assembly or other microcode source. Copyright (c) 1995-2000 FORE Systems, Inc., as an unpublished work. This notice does not imply unrestricted or public access to these materials which are a trade secret of FORE Systems, Inc. or its subsidiaries or affiliates (together referred to as "FORE"), and which may not be reproduced, used, sold or transferred to any third party without FORE's prior written consent. All rights reserved. U.S. Government Restricted Rights. If you are licensing the Software on behalf of the U.S. Government ("Government"), the following provisions apply to you. If the software is supplied to the Department of Defense ("DoD"), it is classified as "Commercial Computer Software" under paragraph 252.227-7014 of the DoD Supplement to the Federal Acquisition Regulations ("DFARS") (or any successor regulations) and the Government is acquiring only the license rights granted herein (the license rights customarily provided to non-Government users). If the Software is supplied to any unit or agency of the Government other than the DoD, it is classified as "Restricted Computer Software" and the Government's rights in the Software are defined in paragraph 52.227-19 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations ("FAR") (or any successor regulations) or, in the cases of NASA, in paragraph 18.52.227-86 of the NASA Supplement to the FAR (or any successor regulations). FORE Systems is a registered trademark, and ForeRunner, ForeRunnerLE, and ForeThought are trademarks of FORE Systems, Inc. All other brands or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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