David T. L. Wong wrote: > So far it is. But how about Samba & NTFS-3g? Any component we used in > our product changes to GPLv3 would give us a headache.
Not a problem, surely? You are already distributing the source for your version of Samba etc., right? How does them changing to GPLv3 change anything? You just continue to distribute your source. Or do you sign and encrypt your Samba etc. binaries as well, to make sure replacing them can't be used to hack the platform's DRM? > Sigma Designs 863X platform requires the kernel image to be signed so > that the bootloader boots it. I foresee this conflict of GPLv3 and > signed kernel. I think I could not disclose the key for signing a kernel > to end users so that they can build their kernel. I may need to build a > signed 2nd stage bootloader to boot unsigned kernel image. It will slow > down the boot process in turn. I think if you provide enough for users to replace the whole boot loader, as well as kernel, it may be fine. Then you won't need a 2nd stage bootloader for unsigned kernels. > I also afraid that I breaks the license agreement with Sigma Designs and > with Microsoft, for WMV DRM, if I let users run their own kernel on the > product. You don't have to let people run the WMV DRM software. That's not GPL licensed - you don't need to share the source for that. (It would be nice, but I know Sigma don't allow it). On my Sigma Designs kit here (8622, ARM based, no MMU), the video playing is not compiled into the kernel, and it's not licensed under the GPL or any other open source license. Only the kernel and compiled in drivers (like IDE) are covered by the GPL. If your video playing program is encrypted, then you can put the decryption key in your signed encrypted kernel which is loaded by the normal boot loader, which only boots signed encrypted kernels. Then you can distribute the source to the kernel + Sigma's patch, plus a boot loader that will boot unsigned, unencrypted kernels. Users can then replace the kernel (and loader) with their own, compiled from source. They won't be able to play WMV DRM - because that requires a program they don't have - and so I don't see it breaking a license agreement with Microsoft. So can't you just distribute the kernel source + Sigma patch, plus a version of the boot loader which doesn't check the kernel signature and won't decrypt your kernels? Plus, if you want to be nice, a version of the video playing program (binary) with only some features working. I guess Sigma might be thinking about this, as they have Windows CE running on some of their kit. It would be a shame if they dropped Linux, as I am using uClinux on a Sigma chip and finding it very useful (modifying the kernel code every day lately), in a way that Windows CE wouldn't be. -- Jamie _______________________________________________ uClinux-dev mailing list uClinux-dev@uclinux.org http://mailman.uclinux.org/mailman/listinfo/uclinux-dev This message was resent by uclinux-dev@uclinux.org To unsubscribe see: http://mailman.uclinux.org/mailman/options/uclinux-dev
