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On Tue, Jun 9, 2020 at 6:41 PM Julius Werner <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Trying to generalize the discussion from
> https://review.coreboot.org/c/blobs/+/41379 here.
>
> Some of the blobs in our 3rdparty/blobs repository have license
> language that basically says you have to agree to the license terms to
> even download the file, and otherwise you're not allowed to possess
> it. Some example language from the fbg1701 license:
>
> > Do not use or load software from this site or any associated materials 
> > (collectively, the "Software") until you have carefully read the following 
> > terms and conditions. By loading or using the Software, you agree to the 
> > terms of this Agreement. If you do not wish to so agree, do not install or 
> > use the Software.
>
> As far as I can tell this affects
> 3rdparty/blobs/mainboard/facebook/fbg1701/license.txt and (with
> slightly more ambiguous language) almost all AMD licenses (e.g.
> 3rdparty/blobs/soc/amd/stoneyridge/license.txt). We're trying to add a
> new blob needed to support a Qualcomm platform that comes with similar
> language.
>
> Some people pointed out on that CL that they are uncomfortable with
> licenses like this in the blobs directory, since it means they cannot
> clone the whole repository without agreeing to all licenses with this
> sort of language in the repo (even if they only want to use a
> completely unrelated blob). The concern was also raised that this
> violates the binary policy (the "unlimited redistribution" part)... I
> guess it's a matter of interpretation whether a license that allows
> you to redistribute the binary *if you agree to it* is still
> "unlimited". It seems that there were already similar concerns raised
> when the fbg1701 license landed (https://review.coreboot.org/34441)
> but it was submitted despite the unresolved disagreement.
>
> Can we come up with and implement a solution here that both respects
> people's concerns and still allows us to support the affected
> platforms? Clearly, the rules should be the same for all blobs, so if
> some blobs with language like this are already in the repository, it
> shouldn't be grounds to reject new blobs from landing. If we can come
> up with an alternative that people would feel more comfortable with,
> we should also apply it to those existing cases.
>
> Would it be enough to just create a second repository
> (3rdparty/restrictive_blobs or something like that) which is not
> automatically checked out by CONFIG_USE_BLOBS so people can make a
> separate conscious decision if they want to check it out? It seems
> that something similar to this was already attempted with the
> 3rdparty/amd_blobs repository (but it looks like the work wasn't
> finished because those blobs are still in 3rdparty/blobs as well?). Is
> it enough to put all these blobs into a single separate repository or
> do we need to make a separate repository per license (that might be
> okay for the big AMD case but it probably wouldn't scale well for
> small one-offs)?
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