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Date:      Tue, 3 Jan 2012 20:15:49 -0600 (CST)
From:      Robert Bonomi <bonomi@mail.r-bonomi.com>
To:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Realtek RTL8191SEvB Linux driver?
Message-ID:  <201201040215.q042FnSX013823@mail.r-bonomi.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.4.64.1201031101580.7621@age7.nber.org>

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Daniel Feenberg wrote:
>
> Don't ndis(4) ndiscvt and ndisgen(8)  essentially accomplish what the OP 
> is requesting? See the handbook section 12.8.1.1:
>
>      http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/config-network-setup.html
>
> or the man page for ndiscvt:
>
>    http://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?section=8&topic=ndiscvt
>
>
> While doing the conversion looks a bit beyond what we would expect of an 
> end-user, it does seem to offer a path for using hardware whose 
> manufacturer does not support FreeBSD. Is there anything beyond licensing 
> issues preventing such drivers from being included in the distribution, or 
> made downloadable in FreeBSD form?

Yeah, there _is_, unfortunately.

There is this 'insignficant' matter known as "copyright law".

Vendor-created device-drivers for Windows _are_ copyrighted works.
the terms of the license give permission for redisribution of those
works, in *UNMODIFIED* form.

Unfortunately, when you have something that digs into that work,
extracts the logic, and wraps it in an interface for a different
system, that is what is called "creating a derivative work".

If you have been granted the right to redistribute the 'original',
that right does -not- extend  to a 'derivative work'.  You have
to have *separate* permission from the copyright owner for a
derivative work.

Distributing a 'tool' that takes the 'original' and automatically
creates the 'derivative work' for someone is *also* proscribed,
because the primary use of that tool is to create infringing works.

A 'manual' tool is a subtly, but importantly, different thing.  It
requires the operator to initiat the overt acts.  thus, as as long
as there are reasonable legitimate uses, the sfoftware itself is 
safe.





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