Adrian, Tuukka, and the MeeGo Community & Developers--
Vendor-specific, "downstream" binary drivers are a given with the contemporary legal climes and "prevailing wisdom". MeeGo is ultimately managed by the Linux Foundation (the LF). The LF's technical & legal cognoscenti are the individuals who would have The Final Say. The Linux Foundation has already promulgated several policy positions regarding independent hardware vendors and GPL-compatible Linux drivers. A modest list is linked below: "The Linux Driver Model: A Better Way to Support Devices" http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/publications/linux-driver-model "Linux Graphics, a Tale of Three Drivers" http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/publications/linux-graphics-essay "Q&A on Device Driver Statement" http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/publications/driver-qa My gratitude for your time & attention, Jed Cousin "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." » Antoine de Saint Exupéry -- On Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 11:07 AM, Turunen Tuukka <[email protected]> wrote: > > Sorry about top posting. > > It may be very difficult to require all device drivers in source code. They > may be various reasons for a vendor of a chip like camera, wlan or agps not > to allow source code distribution of their drivers. And in this case the > device manufacturer has little choice but to have such driver only in > binary. > > As a goal it would be good to state that all should aim to provide as much > in source as possible. Most likely also the chip vendors will allow more > openness over time when they see the benefits winning over risks. And for > the device manufacturers an added wish is to allow developing an open source > alternative to some closed subsystem. > > Yours, > > Tuukka > > ----- Alkuperäinen viesti ----- > >> I think that after the thread N900 Questions and the different >> opinions/suggestions this thread should be re-activated. >> >> I created a page in MeeGo as draft. Of course it depends of MeeGo, but >> the idea is create/recollect some interesting ideas about this >> possibility. >> >> http://wiki.meego.com/Social_contract >> >> Regards, >> >> Adrian. >> >> > ----- Original message ----- >> > From: "Carsten Munk" <carsten at maemo.org> >> > To: meego-dev at meego.com >> > Subject: [MeeGo-dev] Proposal: A vendor social contract >> > Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:58:03 +0100 >> > >> > >> > One of the things we worked with in the Mer project >> > (http://wiki.maemo.org/Mer), which I personally find valuable and that >> > we should consider in the Meego project, is a social contract for >> > vendors basing on the Meego platform to ideally follow in order to >> > encourage more open devices. >> > >> > When talking about open, I mean the same kind of hackable devices that >> > we've seen Maemo Internet Tablets and Devices be - that we can flash >> > our own kernel and rootfs image, not about open hardware >> > (specifications, etc). >> > >> > This is not a license-specific or a semi-religious issue, but >> something >> > we've used in order to estimate if there's a benefit in helping >> > vendors to get ports - ie, is the effort on community side wasted if >> > we are unable to deal/continue the port for the device once the vendor >> > gives up trying to provide OS'es for the device. >> > >> > The original can be seen at >> > http://wiki.maemo.org/Mer/Documentation/Vendor_Social_Contract and >> > I've modified it a bit to fit Meego better: >> > >> > == No tivoization == >> > >> > Tivoization is the creation of a system that incorporates software >> > under the terms of a copyleft software license, but uses hardware to >> > prevent users from running modified versions of the software on that >> > hardware. >> > >> > A user of your device, running Meego, should always be able to replace >> > the OS image with one of their own making [Editor: This might be a >> > problem with operator-locked devices tied to a contract, so let's >> > focus on the instance where the user fully owns his device]. >> > >> > This can be fulfilled by: >> > >> > * Not using hardware to prevent users from running modified >> > versions of the OS. >> > * Not requiring signed firmwares. >> > * Publishing bootloader specifications (firmware format and >> > methods of firmware replacement). >> > >> > == Open source kernel modules == >> > >> > Please publish the source for any modules required to access hardware >> > on the device. >> > >> > * Allows users to use modern kernels in their devices. >> > * Permit continued development of Meego for the device. >> > * Allows ongoing community support. >> > >> > Open source software allows the development team to keep your drivers >> > up to date whenever Meego framework changes require driver >> > modifications. >> > >> > == Redistribution is allowed == >> > >> > We ask that you allow the Meego community to distribute binary copies >> > of any closed-source firmware or hardware-support software that is >> > needed to support your device. >> > >> > If absolutely required, the Meego community can organize a procedure >> > to distribute firmware or hardware-support software only to users of >> > your device, behind EULA and identified with their serial number or >> > MAC address, etc. >> > >> > If you choose to differentiate your device through closed-source >> > bundled application software too (e.g., Flash), we ask that you allow >> > the same distribution rights for this software. >> > >> > A user of your device can then, at any point in the future, build a >> > fresh Meego OS image without losing any functionality they had with >> > the original firmware. >> > >> > == Community Reciprocation == >> > >> > The Meego community is committed to 100% OSS and wants to support >> > organisations moving towards open source. Although we recognise and >> > respect that they may not, at this time, list that as one of their own >> > objectives. >> > >> > The community will: >> > >> > * Support the spirit of the Vendor Social Contract. >> > * Respect the copyright/patent/license limitations that vendors >> > may be faced with when distributing software. >> > * Support vendors in finding open solutions if desired. >> > >> > I'd like to hear comments on this idea as policy/recommendation for >> > Meego - all angles are valid. >> > >> > Regards, >> > Carsten Munk >> > Mer lead developer, maemo.org distmaster >> > _______________________________________________ >> > MeeGo-dev mailing list >> > MeeGo-dev at meego.com >> > http://lists.meego.com/listinfo/meego-dev >> _______________________________________________ >> Meego-community mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.meego.com/listinfo/meego-community >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Meego-community mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.meego.com/listinfo/meego-community > > _______________________________________________ MeeGo-dev mailing list [email protected] http://lists.meego.com/listinfo/meego-dev
