On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 11:54 AM, Rodrigo Pereira <rodrigo2kpere...@gmail.com> wrote: > I don't understand any advantages of put a device driver code in secret. > Someone can explain the advantage of a secret device driver? Maybe is about > money. They want to license the code to some company and charge money for > that. In case I want to buy the source code, how much this will cost?
There are many reasons for keeping device drivers code secret... 1) You believe you have an innovative hardware implementation and are protecting it via trade secret. Releasing the driver source code will provide register definitions and an understanding of how the hardware works. Competitors will see this and copy your hardware. 2) Your hardware implementation is violating patents or you are afraid that people will sue you for patent infringement even when you aren't. Closed source makes it much hard for trolls to launch a patent suit. 3) You have licensed third party code for use in your device driver and you don't have the ability to open source. The third party that wrote this code wants to sell it multiple times so they refuse to open source. Common example -- lighting or physic engines in GPU drivers. 4) You are afraid competitors with similar hardware will take the source you have worked hard to write, modify a few lines, and have a free driver for their hardware. 5) Your hardware is really messed up and almost broken. These warts are embarrassing and you hide the work arounds in closed source. 6) You licensed the IP for the hardware. As part of the IP licensing agreement you are required to keep the register definitions closed. 7) Your secret driver code is violating someone's copyright. and so on..... > > Em segunda-feira, 22 de junho de 2015 09:19:54 UTC-3, Luc Verhaegen > escreveu: >> >> Hi, >> >> It's been a month since Allwinners big "open source" release, where they >> tried to shut up the big (and very justified) GPL violations noise by >> releasing some code which moves decoder codecs into modules, and by >> releasing some codecs as open source as well. As i predicted then, >> Allwinner now has taken the next step: >> >> They produced a binary for the decoder, which is loaded in: >> >> https://github.com/allwinner-zh/media-codec/blob/72f2b8537/sunxi-cedarx/SOURCE/vencoder/venc_device.c >> >> Note the "Proprietary" license notice on top of this and other new >> files. >> >> Even if we ignore the past, all of this is built together with LGPLed >> code, and the binary is being dlopened into this LGPLed code. Quite >> illegally so. >> >> This is further deliberate avoidance of responsibility by Allwinner. One >> can only assume that Allwinner is incorrigible at this point. They have >> been told time and time again what is wrong and they have time and time >> again been given possible ways out, in great detail. All we get though, >> is microsteps to take off the heat, followed by further deliberate >> breaking/bending of the rules. >> >> This also sheds a further shadow on the C.H.I.P. project. Clearly the >> Next Thing Co. guys were very gullible when they went into business with >> Allwinner (and believed the statements made by allwinner). Later during >> the run of the kickstarter campaign, after all the noise had been made >> on the internet about GPL Violations, Next Thing Co. loudly claimed that >> they are working the Free Electrons and that all promises of open >> sourceness and such would be kept (all?). While this move in itself was >> very laudable, it did underline the fact that Next Thing Co. had not >> done its homework beforehand. Now Allwinner does this, which clearly >> goes in against everything the Next Thing Co. people have promised us so >> far... >> >> Allwinner has some explaining to do (as does Next Thing Co, to a lesser >> extent). >> >> Luc Verhaegen. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "linux-sunxi" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to linux-sunxi+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- Jon Smirl jonsm...@gmail.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "linux-sunxi" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to linux-sunxi+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
