Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Al Boldi
Alexandre Oliva wrote:
> On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > I read your scenario of the vendor not giving you the source to mean:
> > not directly; i.e.  they could give you a third-party download link.
>
> This has never been enough to comply with GPLv2.

Section 3a of the GPLv2 mentions "a medium customarily used for software 
interchange".  I would think the Internet is a medium customarily used for 
software interchange, is it not?


Thanks!

--
Al

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 26, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

>> However, if the site takes the sources out, you're still responsible
>> for providing sources to those who received the sources from you from
>> that point on.  Or something like that, IANAL ;-)

> this sounds like a step backwards, you may not have the sources at
> that point if you were relying on the other site to host them.

You should have them.  This provision is not an excuse from your
obligations, it's just a pragmatic concession.

> and by the way, internet access never was a barrier that could stop
> someone from obtaining them

Back when GPLv2 was written, it really was.

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RE: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread David Schwartz

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> this sounds like a step backwards, you may not have the sources at that
> point if you were relying on the other site to host them.

You would then be violating the GPL, under any version. The GPL is quite
clear that being unable to comply with it means you do not get the benefits
it offers rather than excusing you from meeting its requirements.

You *MUST* have the source code in order to distribute it on request. You
cannot ship GPL'd works without offering source code just by arranging it
(deliberately or accidentally) so that you don't have the source code.

> and by the way, internet access never was a barrier that could stop
> someone from obtaining them, the only issue was you hosting the source vs
> someone else hosting the source.

The GPLv2 never specified one way or the other.

If you do allow someone else to host them, you are responsible for making
sure they remain available for at least three years from the last time you
used them as an offer. Should they stop distributing, you would be violating
the GPL. Nothing in the GPL says you can't rely on third parties for your
GPL compliance. Of course, this could be a very risky thing to do. However,
there is no GPL violation so long as they do in fact remain operational for
three years from the last time you distributed.

In fact, a third party is no more risky than any other setup. Any company
can go out of business within the three-year period after distribution.
There are many real-world cases where a third party having the source is
actually more likely to result in actual GPL compliance than the
distributor. (Consider a fly-by-night company selling Fedora binary
distributions burnt to CDROM on the stop for $1 on a street corner.)

One way to avoid this problem is to maintain your own web page that links to
the third party's download. You would have to host the sources yourself if
you couldn't make other arrangements at any point during the three year
period.

This is no different from any other case where the offer is not honored. If
the offer is not honored in a case where the GPL requires that it be, the
GPL is being violated.

DS


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RE: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread David Schwartz

> On Jun 26, 2007, "David Schwartz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > Alexandre Oliva:
>
> >> On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> >> > I read your scenario of the vendor not giving you the source to
> >> > mean: not directly; i.e.  they could give you a third-party
> >> > download link.
>
> >> This has never been enough to comply with GPLv2.
>
> > A lot of people seem to say this, but I don't think it's true.
>
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#TOCUnchangedJustBinary

This consists of entirely unsupported statements.

> and
> the 3 questions after that should be enlightening as to why people say
> this ;-)
>
> cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
> ^^
>
> Why would 'physically' be there if it didn't mean anything?

It does. It means you can't charge for adminsitrative or other costs
associated with performing the source distribution. It's necessary because
otherwise someone could claim that it costs them $10,000 to give you the
source code because they need to purchase a license from someone else. This
limits what you can charge for but does not specify what you have to do.

> When
> interpreting legal texts, that's one sort of question you should ask
> yourself.

It's obvious why it's there. If you're going to charge for the distribution,
the charge must be nominal and justified by actual distribution cost.

Note that even a distribution over the Internet must be physically performed
in this sense (actual physical activity by a human being is required to
perform this type of distribution, both in setup and in maintenance). I
would argue that the GPL allows you to charge these costs if you really
wanted to, though it's hard to imagine why anyone would bother.

DS


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RE: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread David Schwartz

> But thats YOURcompanyname.com. Not a third party. If you gave as a
> link somebodyelsescompany.com/gpl then somebodyelse could get rid of
> the link, and your offer wouldn't be valid for "at least three years"
>
> T

You mean it might not be valid for at least three years. It also might be.
You also might go out of business in less than three years.

You're not violating the GPL simply because you might not be able to honor
your offer in less than three years. You're violating the GPL when you in
fact fail to honor it.

I do agree that providing a link to a third party URL is risky, but I do not
agree that it doesn't comply with the GPL.

DS


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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 26, 2007, "David Schwartz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Alexandre Oliva:

>> On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>> > I read your scenario of the vendor not giving you the source to
>> > mean: not directly; i.e.  they could give you a third-party
>> > download link.

>> This has never been enough to comply with GPLv2.

> A lot of people seem to say this, but I don't think it's true.

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#TOCUnchangedJustBinary and
the 3 questions after that should be enlightening as to why people say
this ;-)

cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
^^

Why would 'physically' be there if it didn't mean anything?  When
interpreting legal texts, that's one sort of question you should ask
yourself.

-- 
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FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread david

On Tue, 26 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 26, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


unless you are saying that the GPLv3 is saying that a third party link
now _is_ sufficiant.


Yup.  The improvement in GPLv3 is to relax the requirement of
providing source code in physical medium if you choose to not
distribute it along with the binaries.  It's recognizing that internet
access is no longer a barrier that could stop someone from obtaining
the sources they're entitled to.  Even someone who doesn't have
regular or fast internet access can hire a third party who does to
perform the download and record it.

I.e., with GPLv3, you *can* point at the sources you used, even in a
site that you don't control.

However, if the site takes the sources out, you're still responsible
for providing sources to those who received the sources from you from
that point on.  Or something like that, IANAL ;-)


this sounds like a step backwards, you may not have the sources at that 
point if you were relying on the other site to host them.


and by the way, internet access never was a barrier that could stop 
someone from obtaining them, the only issue was you hosting the source vs 
someone else hosting the source.


David Lang
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 26, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> unless you are saying that the GPLv3 is saying that a third party link
> now _is_ sufficiant.

Yup.  The improvement in GPLv3 is to relax the requirement of
providing source code in physical medium if you choose to not
distribute it along with the binaries.  It's recognizing that internet
access is no longer a barrier that could stop someone from obtaining
the sources they're entitled to.  Even someone who doesn't have
regular or fast internet access can hire a third party who does to
perform the download and record it.

I.e., with GPLv3, you *can* point at the sources you used, even in a
site that you don't control.

However, if the site takes the sources out, you're still responsible
for providing sources to those who received the sources from you from
that point on.  Or something like that, IANAL ;-)

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Tomas Neme

"The source code for this product is available under the terms of the GPL
from the following web page http://www.mycompanyname.com/gpl;

This assumes that no special steps are needed to obtain the software from
that web page.


But thats YOURcompanyname.com. Not a third party. If you gave as a
link somebodyelsescompany.com/gpl then somebodyelse could get rid of
the link, and your offer wouldn't be valid for "at least three years"

T

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RE: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread David Schwartz

Alexandre Oliva:

> On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > I read your scenario of the vendor not giving you the source to
> > mean: not
> > directly; i.e.  they could give you a third-party download link.
>
> This has never been enough to comply with GPLv2.

A lot of people seem to say this, but I don't think it's true. Section 3b
says:

Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your
cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium
customarily used for software interchange; or,

A web page with a download URL is just such an offer. The Internet is a
medium customarily used for software interchange. I do not see why the
following statement doesn't meet the requirements above:

"The source code for this product is available under the terms of the GPL
from the following web page http://www.mycompanyname.com/gpl;

This assumes that no special steps are needed to obtain the software from
that web page.

DS


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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread david

On Tue, 26 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


I read your scenario of the vendor not giving you the source to mean: not
directly; i.e.  they could give you a third-party download link.


This has never been enough to comply with GPLv2.

FWIW, it is one of the improvements in GPLv3.


either it's an improvement in the GPLv3 or it's a violation of GPLv2.

you can't say that the GPLv2 prohibits it _and_ it's an improvement in the 
GPLv3.


unless you are saying that the GPLv3 is saying that a third party link now 
_is_ sufficiant. this seems to be counter to what the FSF is claiming 
(with good reasoning. after all, you don't control the third party site, 
so it could change or go away and now the people who got the binaries from 
you can't get the sources)


David Lang

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> I read your scenario of the vendor not giving you the source to mean: not 
> directly; i.e.  they could give you a third-party download link.

This has never been enough to comply with GPLv2.

FWIW, it is one of the improvements in GPLv3.

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Al Boldi
Alexandre Oliva wrote:
> On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >> Is it in the spirit of GPLv2?
> >
> > No, but that's besides the point.
>
> Thanks for informing me about the point *I*'m trying to make ;-)
>
> > You can only hold people responsible for the letter, lest there be
> > chaos.
>
> That's not *quite* how it works, but that's a general idea, yes.
>
> >> How are the sources passed on in this way going to benefit the user or
> >> the community?
> >
> > They still have to provide the source by other GPL means of their
> > choosing.
>
> This is contradictory.  You said the scenario I described was
> permitted, and the scenario included the vendor's refusal to give
> customers other copies of the sources.
>
> Which is it?

I read your scenario of the vendor not giving you the source to mean: not 
directly; i.e.  they could give you a third-party download link.


Thanks!

--
Al

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>> Is it in the spirit of GPLv2?

> No, but that's besides the point.

Thanks for informing me about the point *I*'m trying to make ;-)

> You can only hold people responsible for the letter, lest there be chaos.

That's not *quite* how it works, but that's a general idea, yes.

>> How are the sources passed on in this way going to benefit the user or the
>> community?

> They still have to provide the source by other GPL means of their choosing.

This is contradictory.  You said the scenario I described was
permitted, and the scenario included the vendor's refusal to give
customers other copies of the sources.

Which is it?

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 Is it in the spirit of GPLv2?

 No, but that's besides the point.

Thanks for informing me about the point *I*'m trying to make ;-)

 You can only hold people responsible for the letter, lest there be chaos.

That's not *quite* how it works, but that's a general idea, yes.

 How are the sources passed on in this way going to benefit the user or the
 community?

 They still have to provide the source by other GPL means of their choosing.

This is contradictory.  You said the scenario I described was
permitted, and the scenario included the vendor's refusal to give
customers other copies of the sources.

Which is it?

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Al Boldi
Alexandre Oliva wrote:
 On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  Is it in the spirit of GPLv2?
 
  No, but that's besides the point.

 Thanks for informing me about the point *I*'m trying to make ;-)

  You can only hold people responsible for the letter, lest there be
  chaos.

 That's not *quite* how it works, but that's a general idea, yes.

  How are the sources passed on in this way going to benefit the user or
  the community?
 
  They still have to provide the source by other GPL means of their
  choosing.

 This is contradictory.  You said the scenario I described was
 permitted, and the scenario included the vendor's refusal to give
 customers other copies of the sources.

 Which is it?

I read your scenario of the vendor not giving you the source to mean: not 
directly; i.e.  they could give you a third-party download link.


Thanks!

--
Al

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 I read your scenario of the vendor not giving you the source to mean: not 
 directly; i.e.  they could give you a third-party download link.

This has never been enough to comply with GPLv2.

FWIW, it is one of the improvements in GPLv3.

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread david

On Tue, 26 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


I read your scenario of the vendor not giving you the source to mean: not
directly; i.e.  they could give you a third-party download link.


This has never been enough to comply with GPLv2.

FWIW, it is one of the improvements in GPLv3.


either it's an improvement in the GPLv3 or it's a violation of GPLv2.

you can't say that the GPLv2 prohibits it _and_ it's an improvement in the 
GPLv3.


unless you are saying that the GPLv3 is saying that a third party link now 
_is_ sufficiant. this seems to be counter to what the FSF is claiming 
(with good reasoning. after all, you don't control the third party site, 
so it could change or go away and now the people who got the binaries from 
you can't get the sources)


David Lang

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RE: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread David Schwartz

Alexandre Oliva:

 On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  I read your scenario of the vendor not giving you the source to
  mean: not
  directly; i.e.  they could give you a third-party download link.

 This has never been enough to comply with GPLv2.

A lot of people seem to say this, but I don't think it's true. Section 3b
says:

Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your
cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium
customarily used for software interchange; or,

A web page with a download URL is just such an offer. The Internet is a
medium customarily used for software interchange. I do not see why the
following statement doesn't meet the requirements above:

The source code for this product is available under the terms of the GPL
from the following web page http://www.mycompanyname.com/gpl;

This assumes that no special steps are needed to obtain the software from
that web page.

DS


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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Tomas Neme

The source code for this product is available under the terms of the GPL
from the following web page http://www.mycompanyname.com/gpl;

This assumes that no special steps are needed to obtain the software from
that web page.


But thats YOURcompanyname.com. Not a third party. If you gave as a
link somebodyelsescompany.com/gpl then somebodyelse could get rid of
the link, and your offer wouldn't be valid for at least three years

T

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 26, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 unless you are saying that the GPLv3 is saying that a third party link
 now _is_ sufficiant.

Yup.  The improvement in GPLv3 is to relax the requirement of
providing source code in physical medium if you choose to not
distribute it along with the binaries.  It's recognizing that internet
access is no longer a barrier that could stop someone from obtaining
the sources they're entitled to.  Even someone who doesn't have
regular or fast internet access can hire a third party who does to
perform the download and record it.

I.e., with GPLv3, you *can* point at the sources you used, even in a
site that you don't control.

However, if the site takes the sources out, you're still responsible
for providing sources to those who received the sources from you from
that point on.  Or something like that, IANAL ;-)

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread david

On Tue, 26 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 26, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


unless you are saying that the GPLv3 is saying that a third party link
now _is_ sufficiant.


Yup.  The improvement in GPLv3 is to relax the requirement of
providing source code in physical medium if you choose to not
distribute it along with the binaries.  It's recognizing that internet
access is no longer a barrier that could stop someone from obtaining
the sources they're entitled to.  Even someone who doesn't have
regular or fast internet access can hire a third party who does to
perform the download and record it.

I.e., with GPLv3, you *can* point at the sources you used, even in a
site that you don't control.

However, if the site takes the sources out, you're still responsible
for providing sources to those who received the sources from you from
that point on.  Or something like that, IANAL ;-)


this sounds like a step backwards, you may not have the sources at that 
point if you were relying on the other site to host them.


and by the way, internet access never was a barrier that could stop 
someone from obtaining them, the only issue was you hosting the source vs 
someone else hosting the source.


David Lang
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 26, 2007, David Schwartz [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 Alexandre Oliva:

 On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  I read your scenario of the vendor not giving you the source to
  mean: not directly; i.e.  they could give you a third-party
  download link.

 This has never been enough to comply with GPLv2.

 A lot of people seem to say this, but I don't think it's true.

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#TOCUnchangedJustBinary and
the 3 questions after that should be enlightening as to why people say
this ;-)

cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
^^

Why would 'physically' be there if it didn't mean anything?  When
interpreting legal texts, that's one sort of question you should ask
yourself.

-- 
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FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
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RE: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread David Schwartz

 But thats YOURcompanyname.com. Not a third party. If you gave as a
 link somebodyelsescompany.com/gpl then somebodyelse could get rid of
 the link, and your offer wouldn't be valid for at least three years

 T

You mean it might not be valid for at least three years. It also might be.
You also might go out of business in less than three years.

You're not violating the GPL simply because you might not be able to honor
your offer in less than three years. You're violating the GPL when you in
fact fail to honor it.

I do agree that providing a link to a third party URL is risky, but I do not
agree that it doesn't comply with the GPL.

DS


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RE: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread David Schwartz

 On Jun 26, 2007, David Schwartz [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  Alexandre Oliva:

  On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

   I read your scenario of the vendor not giving you the source to
   mean: not directly; i.e.  they could give you a third-party
   download link.

  This has never been enough to comply with GPLv2.

  A lot of people seem to say this, but I don't think it's true.

 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#TOCUnchangedJustBinary

This consists of entirely unsupported statements.

 and
 the 3 questions after that should be enlightening as to why people say
 this ;-)

 cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
 ^^

 Why would 'physically' be there if it didn't mean anything?

It does. It means you can't charge for adminsitrative or other costs
associated with performing the source distribution. It's necessary because
otherwise someone could claim that it costs them $10,000 to give you the
source code because they need to purchase a license from someone else. This
limits what you can charge for but does not specify what you have to do.

 When
 interpreting legal texts, that's one sort of question you should ask
 yourself.

It's obvious why it's there. If you're going to charge for the distribution,
the charge must be nominal and justified by actual distribution cost.

Note that even a distribution over the Internet must be physically performed
in this sense (actual physical activity by a human being is required to
perform this type of distribution, both in setup and in maintenance). I
would argue that the GPL allows you to charge these costs if you really
wanted to, though it's hard to imagine why anyone would bother.

DS


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RE: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread David Schwartz

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 this sounds like a step backwards, you may not have the sources at that
 point if you were relying on the other site to host them.

You would then be violating the GPL, under any version. The GPL is quite
clear that being unable to comply with it means you do not get the benefits
it offers rather than excusing you from meeting its requirements.

You *MUST* have the source code in order to distribute it on request. You
cannot ship GPL'd works without offering source code just by arranging it
(deliberately or accidentally) so that you don't have the source code.

 and by the way, internet access never was a barrier that could stop
 someone from obtaining them, the only issue was you hosting the source vs
 someone else hosting the source.

The GPLv2 never specified one way or the other.

If you do allow someone else to host them, you are responsible for making
sure they remain available for at least three years from the last time you
used them as an offer. Should they stop distributing, you would be violating
the GPL. Nothing in the GPL says you can't rely on third parties for your
GPL compliance. Of course, this could be a very risky thing to do. However,
there is no GPL violation so long as they do in fact remain operational for
three years from the last time you distributed.

In fact, a third party is no more risky than any other setup. Any company
can go out of business within the three-year period after distribution.
There are many real-world cases where a third party having the source is
actually more likely to result in actual GPL compliance than the
distributor. (Consider a fly-by-night company selling Fedora binary
distributions burnt to CDROM on the stop for $1 on a street corner.)

One way to avoid this problem is to maintain your own web page that links to
the third party's download. You would have to host the sources yourself if
you couldn't make other arrangements at any point during the three year
period.

This is no different from any other case where the offer is not honored. If
the offer is not honored in a case where the GPL requires that it be, the
GPL is being violated.

DS


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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 26, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 However, if the site takes the sources out, you're still responsible
 for providing sources to those who received the sources from you from
 that point on.  Or something like that, IANAL ;-)

 this sounds like a step backwards, you may not have the sources at
 that point if you were relying on the other site to host them.

You should have them.  This provision is not an excuse from your
obligations, it's just a pragmatic concession.

 and by the way, internet access never was a barrier that could stop
 someone from obtaining them

Back when GPLv2 was written, it really was.

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-26 Thread Al Boldi
Alexandre Oliva wrote:
 On Jun 26, 2007, Al Boldi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  I read your scenario of the vendor not giving you the source to mean:
  not directly; i.e.  they could give you a third-party download link.

 This has never been enough to comply with GPLv2.

Section 3a of the GPLv2 mentions a medium customarily used for software 
interchange.  I would think the Internet is a medium customarily used for 
software interchange, is it not?


Thanks!

--
Al

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-25 Thread Al Boldi
Alexandre Oliva wrote:
> Consider this scenario: vendor tivoizes Linux in the device, and
> includes the corresponding sources only in a partition that is
> theoretically accessible using the shipped kernel, but that nothing in
> the software available in the machine will let you get to.  Further,
> sources (like everything else on disk) are encrypted, and you can only
> decrypt it with hardware crypto that is disabled if the boot loader
> doesn't find a correct signature for the boot partition, or maybe the
> signature is irrelevant, given that everything on disk is encrypted in
> such a way that, if you don't have the keys, you can't update the
> kernel properly anyway.  The vendor refuses to give customers other
> copies of the sources.  To add insult to the injury, the vendor
> configures the computer to set up the encrypted disk partition
> containing the sources as a swap device, such that the shared-secret
> key used to access that entire filesystem is overwritten upon the
> first boot, rendering the entire previous contents of the partition
> holding the source code into an incomprehensible stream of bits.
>
> Does anyone think this is permitted by the letter of GPLv2?

Yes.

> Is it in the spirit of GPLv2?

No, but that's besides the point.

You can only hold people responsible for the letter, lest there be chaos.

If there is a specific usage spirit you want to protect, then you must 
formulate it in letter.

> How are the sources passed on in this way going to benefit the user or the
> community?

They still have to provide the source by other GPL means of their choosing.

> Is this still desirable by the Linux developers?

Looks undesirable to me, but still valid.


Thanks!

--
Al

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-25 Thread Al Boldi
Alexandre Oliva wrote:
 Consider this scenario: vendor tivoizes Linux in the device, and
 includes the corresponding sources only in a partition that is
 theoretically accessible using the shipped kernel, but that nothing in
 the software available in the machine will let you get to.  Further,
 sources (like everything else on disk) are encrypted, and you can only
 decrypt it with hardware crypto that is disabled if the boot loader
 doesn't find a correct signature for the boot partition, or maybe the
 signature is irrelevant, given that everything on disk is encrypted in
 such a way that, if you don't have the keys, you can't update the
 kernel properly anyway.  The vendor refuses to give customers other
 copies of the sources.  To add insult to the injury, the vendor
 configures the computer to set up the encrypted disk partition
 containing the sources as a swap device, such that the shared-secret
 key used to access that entire filesystem is overwritten upon the
 first boot, rendering the entire previous contents of the partition
 holding the source code into an incomprehensible stream of bits.

 Does anyone think this is permitted by the letter of GPLv2?

Yes.

 Is it in the spirit of GPLv2?

No, but that's besides the point.

You can only hold people responsible for the letter, lest there be chaos.

If there is a specific usage spirit you want to protect, then you must 
formulate it in letter.

 How are the sources passed on in this way going to benefit the user or the
 community?

They still have to provide the source by other GPL means of their choosing.

 Is this still desirable by the Linux developers?

Looks undesirable to me, but still valid.


Thanks!

--
Al

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-22 Thread Tomas Neme

In the sense that he can decide to remove all contributions from
dissenting authors, yes, he does.  But he can't impose his more lax
interpretation upon other authors.  Under copyright, it's the more


yes, I saw my argument going weak as I wrote it, but what I said later:


So if you own a part of the kernel, then you can pursuit TiVo on your
own, if they did direct use of that part especifically and break (in
your opinion) what you feel GPLv2 means. You can form the CATV2
(CodersAgainstTiVo v2) and try to get TiVo to stop using the Linux
Kernel for their product (because, believe me, they WON'T release the
keys). Yeay, we lost Tivo's improvements on the kernel, and the
posibility of having a working kernel if anyone feels like
back-ingeneering TiVo for their own amusement.


is still right. What I meant, at least by the end of that email, was
that he has the last word on trying to stop TiVo from using The Linux
Kernel. Each author can still go and stop them from using his part,
and the derivative work that is The Linux Kernel.

But that brings another question: what if TiVo decided to remove all
code from the complaining parts and rewrite them? that wouldn't be The
Linux Kernel anymore, but it would be a derivative work of all the
parts that don't disagree with Tivoization, but is that legal?

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-22 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 22, 2007, "Tomas Neme" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> The thing is, what matters in copyright and licencing matters is what
> the author of the code understands, no the licence's author, if
> ambiguous. And the kernel's rights holder is Linus.

Since he didn't get copyright assignments, each contributor is the
copyright holder of her/his own contribution.  And this means each
holder gets a say on how s/he understood GPLv2.

IANAL, but I think if Linus' intended interpretation had been
clarified all the way from the beginning, he could have grounds to
claim that everyone else had implicitly accepted that reading by
contributing to the project.

But since it was a decision made many years later, his clarification
on his reading of the license is in a way an additional permission
that affects only his own contributions; other authors are still
entitled to try to enforce their understanding of the legal terms of
the license, and they would have the spirit of the GPL and its
preamble on their side to guide the interpretation.  Even if contract
law states something like, in adhesion contracts, the party who writes
the contract gives the other party the benefits of any ambiguity in
the writing, the GPL is not a contract, it's a license, and per
copyright law, licenses are to be interpreted restrictively.

> Linus has the last word on it.

In the sense that he can decide to remove all contributions from
dissenting authors, yes, he does.  But he can't impose his more lax
interpretation upon other authors.  Under copyright, it's the more
restrictive reading that prevails, in that any holder who understands
his rights are being trampled can enforce them.  And since at least
one such author is vocal in his dissent, not even estoppel defenses
would apply.  But IANAL.

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-22 Thread Tomas Neme

powerful.  It is pretty obvious that when Linus adopted GPLv2 he
didn't realize it reached that point.  That when Tivo invented
Tivoization, he decided he wanted to permit this, and thus grants an
implicit additional permission for anyone to do it with his code,
doesn't mean other participants in the Linux community feel the same
way, or read the GPLv2 the same way, and could be somehow stopped from
enforcing the license the way they meant it.


The thing is, what matters in copyright and licencing matters is what
the author of the code understands, no the licence's author, if
ambiguous. And the kernel's rights holder is Linus. The authors of the
particular bits of code can complain about what tivo's doing, but
since TiVo's using the linux kernel, and GPLv2 says

"These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole.  If
identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program,
and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in
themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those
sections when you distribute them as separate works.  But when you
distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based
on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of
this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the
entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it."

Linus has the last word on it. IANAL, but as far as I can tell this
reads as "this licence applies to the whole, not to the parts by
themselves", and so does who the "holder" is, I'd believe.

So if you own a part of the kernel, then you can pursuit TiVo on your
own, if they did direct use of that part especifically and break (in
your opinion) what you feel GPLv2 means. You can form the CATV2
(CodersAgainstTiVo v2) and try to get TiVo to stop using the Linux
Kernel for their product (because, believe me, they WON'T release the
keys). Yeay, we lost Tivo's improvements on the kernel, and the
posibility of having a working kernel if anyone feels like
back-ingeneering TiVo for their own amusement.

T

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-22 Thread Tomas Neme

powerful.  It is pretty obvious that when Linus adopted GPLv2 he
didn't realize it reached that point.  That when Tivo invented
Tivoization, he decided he wanted to permit this, and thus grants an
implicit additional permission for anyone to do it with his code,
doesn't mean other participants in the Linux community feel the same
way, or read the GPLv2 the same way, and could be somehow stopped from
enforcing the license the way they meant it.


The thing is, what matters in copyright and licencing matters is what
the author of the code understands, no the licence's author, if
ambiguous. And the kernel's rights holder is Linus. The authors of the
particular bits of code can complain about what tivo's doing, but
since TiVo's using the linux kernel, and GPLv2 says

These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole.  If
identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program,
and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in
themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those
sections when you distribute them as separate works.  But when you
distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based
on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of
this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the
entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.

Linus has the last word on it. IANAL, but as far as I can tell this
reads as this licence applies to the whole, not to the parts by
themselves, and so does who the holder is, I'd believe.

So if you own a part of the kernel, then you can pursuit TiVo on your
own, if they did direct use of that part especifically and break (in
your opinion) what you feel GPLv2 means. You can form the CATV2
(CodersAgainstTiVo v2) and try to get TiVo to stop using the Linux
Kernel for their product (because, believe me, they WON'T release the
keys). Yeay, we lost Tivo's improvements on the kernel, and the
posibility of having a working kernel if anyone feels like
back-ingeneering TiVo for their own amusement.

T

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-22 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 22, 2007, Tomas Neme [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 The thing is, what matters in copyright and licencing matters is what
 the author of the code understands, no the licence's author, if
 ambiguous. And the kernel's rights holder is Linus.

Since he didn't get copyright assignments, each contributor is the
copyright holder of her/his own contribution.  And this means each
holder gets a say on how s/he understood GPLv2.

IANAL, but I think if Linus' intended interpretation had been
clarified all the way from the beginning, he could have grounds to
claim that everyone else had implicitly accepted that reading by
contributing to the project.

But since it was a decision made many years later, his clarification
on his reading of the license is in a way an additional permission
that affects only his own contributions; other authors are still
entitled to try to enforce their understanding of the legal terms of
the license, and they would have the spirit of the GPL and its
preamble on their side to guide the interpretation.  Even if contract
law states something like, in adhesion contracts, the party who writes
the contract gives the other party the benefits of any ambiguity in
the writing, the GPL is not a contract, it's a license, and per
copyright law, licenses are to be interpreted restrictively.

 Linus has the last word on it.

In the sense that he can decide to remove all contributions from
dissenting authors, yes, he does.  But he can't impose his more lax
interpretation upon other authors.  Under copyright, it's the more
restrictive reading that prevails, in that any holder who understands
his rights are being trampled can enforce them.  And since at least
one such author is vocal in his dissent, not even estoppel defenses
would apply.  But IANAL.

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-22 Thread Tomas Neme

In the sense that he can decide to remove all contributions from
dissenting authors, yes, he does.  But he can't impose his more lax
interpretation upon other authors.  Under copyright, it's the more


yes, I saw my argument going weak as I wrote it, but what I said later:


So if you own a part of the kernel, then you can pursuit TiVo on your
own, if they did direct use of that part especifically and break (in
your opinion) what you feel GPLv2 means. You can form the CATV2
(CodersAgainstTiVo v2) and try to get TiVo to stop using the Linux
Kernel for their product (because, believe me, they WON'T release the
keys). Yeay, we lost Tivo's improvements on the kernel, and the
posibility of having a working kernel if anyone feels like
back-ingeneering TiVo for their own amusement.


is still right. What I meant, at least by the end of that email, was
that he has the last word on trying to stop TiVo from using The Linux
Kernel. Each author can still go and stop them from using his part,
and the derivative work that is The Linux Kernel.

But that brings another question: what if TiVo decided to remove all
code from the complaining parts and rewrite them? that wouldn't be The
Linux Kernel anymore, but it would be a derivative work of all the
parts that don't disagree with Tivoization, but is that legal?

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Kyle Moffett

On Jun 21, 2007, at 15:19:35, Stephen Clark wrote:

David Schwartz wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:55:10 -0700 "David Schwartz"  
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
A key is a number. A signature is a number. They are neither  
statements nor instructions. The argument that GPLv2 prohibits  
Tivoization is really and truly absurd. It has neither a legal  
nor a moral leg to stand on.


A computer program is a number too.


No, it's not. It can be expressed as a number, but it is not a  
number.


??? can be expressed as a number, but it is not a number ??? sure  
its a number.


Keys are purely numbers, they are nothing else. Signatures are  
pure primitive facts encoded as numbers (authority X blessed  
object Y).


A computer program is a set of instructions to accomplish a  
particular result. It can be expressed as a number, but that  
doesn't mean it is a number.


It might be true in principle to develop a scheme whereby every  
physical object uniquely corresponds to an extremely large number.  
That doesn't turn physical objects into numbers.


Both of you lose this argument.  All irrational numbers, for example,  
"break" every copyright that could possibly exist.  For example, you  
can find any arbitrary sequence of Base-N digits when you express PI  
in base-N form.  I can simultaneously express both the laws of  
physics (not copyrightable) and the latest episode of the TV show  
"Numbers" (thoroughly copyrighted) as numbers.  In fact, we do both  
all the time (you can express both the latest equations for  
theoretical physics and a TV show as bits (IE: numbers) on an HDD.   
Ergo "$FOO is a number" says *NOTHING* about whether or not copyright  
applies to $FOO.  In case you haven't noticed, the whole damn point  
of math is that you can express *EVERYTHING* as numbers, albeit maybe  
horribly unbelievably complex ones.


Now, back to actual legal issues: Since most copyright laws  
explicitly prevent copyrighting of pure math, the only actual  
protection you have for some collection of so-called numbers is  
whether or not the numbers *REPRESENT* something which may be  
copyrighted.  Furthermore, copyright has _always_ been independent of  
representation; a person owns copyright on a book regardless of  
whether it's hardback, softcover, digital, memorized, etc.  The  
person who owns the copyright on a book is able to prevent someone  
who has memorized the book from giving public recitals of said book,  
and the neuron-linkage-based storage the brain uses is about as far  
as you can possibly get from twiddling magnetic bits on a disk drive  
or dumping carbon-based inks on a page made of plant cellulose.


Cheers,
Kyle Moffett

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RE: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread David Schwartz

On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> >> For the record, GPLv2 is already meant to accomplish this.  I don't
> >> understand why people who disagree with this stance chose GPLv2.
> >> Isn't "no further restrictions" clear enough?

> > everyone else is reading this as 'no further license restrictions'

> I didn't see anyone else add "license" where you did.  "No further
> restrictions on the rights granted herein" is very powerful and
> extensive, and that's how it was meant to be.

I agree. For example, a patent might impose a further restriction. The GPL
was clearly meant to foreclose that. There are any number of other ways of
nasty, subtle ways to impose further restrictions, and the GPLv2 meant to
foreclose all of them.

> > not no hardware restrictions' becouse GPLv2 explicitly says that it
> > has nothing to do with running the software, only with distributing
> > it.

> It also says that running the software is not restricted, and since
> copyright law in the US doesn't regulate execution, receiving the
> software does grant the recipient the right to run the software.  So
> the distributor can't impose restrictions on it.

Right.

The response to this argument is that it is mind-bogglingly obvious that the
GPL doesn't mean that no *authorization* decisions can stand in your way. It
didn't mean that I couldn't keep the root password to my server secret even
though that denies you the "right" to modify the Linux kernel running on it.

Some entity has to decide what software runs on any particular piece of
hardware, and it was never the intent of the GPL to specify or limit who
that person was. This has been discussed many times over many years, longer
before Tivoization was even thought of, and it was agreed that the GPL
didn't foreclose authorization obstacles to software modification.

Why doesn't Linux allow a non-root user to install a module or change which
kernel the system runs? Doesn't that limit the GPL rights of all non-root
users to modify the GPL'd kernel software on that machine? OF COURSE NOT.

DS


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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:
>> On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>> 
>>> this is your right with your code. please stop browbeating people who
>>> disagree with you.
>> 
>> For the record, GPLv2 is already meant to accomplish this.  I don't
>> understand why people who disagree with this stance chose GPLv2.
>> Isn't "no further restrictions" clear enough?

> everyone else is reading this as 'no further license restrictions'

I didn't see anyone else add "license" where you did.  "No further
restrictions on the rights granted herein" is very powerful and
extensive, and that's how it was meant to be.

> not no hardware restrictions' becouse GPLv2 explicitly says that it
> has nothing to do with running the software, only with distributing
> it.

It also says that running the software is not restricted, and since
copyright law in the US doesn't regulate execution, receiving the
software does grant the recipient the right to run the software.  So
the distributor can't impose restrictions on it.

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread david

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


this is your right with your code. please stop browbeating people who
disagree with you.


For the record, GPLv2 is already meant to accomplish this.  I don't
understand why people who disagree with this stance chose GPLv2.
Isn't "no further restrictions" clear enough?


everyone else is reading this as 'no further license restrictions' not 'no 
hardware restrictions' becouse GPLv2 explicitly says that it has nothing 
to do with running the software, only with distributing it.


David Lang
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> this is your right with your code. please stop browbeating people who
> disagree with you.

For the record, GPLv2 is already meant to accomplish this.  I don't
understand why people who disagree with this stance chose GPLv2.
Isn't "no further restrictions" clear enough?

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FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, Andrew McKay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Alexandre Oliva wrote:
>> On Jun 21, 2007, Andrew McKay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> 
>>> A balance of freedom to the licensee and the licenser.  It's my
>>> opinion that GPLv3 potentially shifts the balance too far to the
>>> licensee.
>> 
>> It's more of a balance of freedom between licensee and licensee,
>> actually.  It's a lot about making sure no one can acquire a
>> privileged position, such that every licensee plays under the same
>> rules.  (The copyright holder is not *acquiring* a privileged
>> position, copyright law had already granted him/her that position.)

> I do see what you're saying here.  But it does take the away the
> ability of a licensee to protect themselves from another malicious
> licensee.

Sorry, I don't follow what the "it" refers to in your sentence.

> If the ultimate goal of the Free Software community is to get source
> code out to the public, I think that was captured in GPLv2.

That's a correct logical inference, but since the premise is false,
the conclusion is garbage.

GPLv2 goes far beyond getting source code out to the public.  It
contains the "no further restrictions" language, which is very
powerful.  It is pretty obvious that when Linus adopted GPLv2 he
didn't realize it reached that point.  That when Tivo invented
Tivoization, he decided he wanted to permit this, and thus grants an
implicit additional permission for anyone to do it with his code,
doesn't mean other participants in the Linux community feel the same
way, or read the GPLv2 the same way, and could be somehow stopped from
enforcing the license the way they meant it.

Ultimately, the current situation is that we have two
mutually-incompatible license intents being used in Linux, and no
matter how much those who want to grant the permission say so, this
doesn't trample other contributor's rights to enforce the license they
chose for their code.  Especially those who started contributing long
before the decision that "what TiVo does is good" was announced.

Now, since these two license intents are expressed by the same
license, and what the license demands is that derived works must be
under the same license, they are compatible, but since the intents are
distinct, what prevails is, as in any case of combination of different
licensing provisions, is the most restrictive provision.

So Linux does not permit tivoization today.  Linus does, Linux
doesn't.

All this fuss about the anti-tivoization provisions in GPLv3 is just a
consequence of reading the GPLv2 without fully understanding its
intended consequences, not having foresight to clarify the intent to
constrain the "no further restrictions" provisions to match the
alternate interpretation, and opposing the removal of the ambiguity
because it doesn't match the choice that *some* of the developers
would like it to go.

Who's the ambiguity good for?

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread david

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:

If it's input-only, then you can't possibly harm the operation of the
network by only listening in, can you?



Ok, so you consider any anti-piracy measures to be something that
GPLv3 should prohibit.


In general, I object to the use of my code in ways that don't permit
users to run it for any purpose, study it, adapt it to suit their own
needs, modify the code and distribute it, modified or not.

If this means my code can't be used to implement DRM, that's a good
thing.

All anti-piracy measures I've ever known deprive users of legitimate
rights too.  So, yes, I don't agree with these measures.

I believe in punishing the guilty, not in punishing innocent
bystanders just such that the guilty have to find work arounds to
become guilty.


this is your right with your code. please stop browbeating people who 
disagree with you.


David Lang
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:
>> If it's input-only, then you can't possibly harm the operation of the
>> network by only listening in, can you?

> Ok, so you consider any anti-piracy measures to be something that
> GPLv3 should prohibit.

In general, I object to the use of my code in ways that don't permit
users to run it for any purpose, study it, adapt it to suit their own
needs, modify the code and distribute it, modified or not.

If this means my code can't be used to implement DRM, that's a good
thing.

All anti-piracy measures I've ever known deprive users of legitimate
rights too.  So, yes, I don't agree with these measures.

I believe in punishing the guilty, not in punishing innocent
bystanders just such that the guilty have to find work arounds to
become guilty.

-- 
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FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Andrew McKay

Alexandre Oliva wrote:

On Jun 21, 2007, Andrew McKay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


A balance of freedom to the licensee and the licenser.  It's my
opinion that GPLv3 potentially shifts the balance too far to the
licensee.


It's more of a balance of freedom between licensee and licensee,
actually.  It's a lot about making sure no one can acquire a
privileged position, such that every licensee plays under the same
rules.  (The copyright holder is not *acquiring* a privileged
position, copyright law had already granted him/her that position.)



I do see what you're saying here.  But it does take the away the ability of a 
licensee to protect themselves from another malicious licensee.  If the ultimate 
goal of the Free Software community is to get source code out to the public, I 
think that was captured in GPLv2.  GPLv3 oversteps its bounds.


Anyways I think this topic has been quite covered.

Andrew
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Andrew McKay

Alexandre Oliva wrote:

On Jun 21, 2007, Andrew McKay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

how can the server tell if it's been tampered with?



I agree with this statement.


Err...  That's a question, not a statement ;-)



Sorry, that's what happens when one types before getting a cup of coffee in the 
morning.


Andrew
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread david

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:

On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


no, one of the rules for the network is that the software must be
certified,


In this case you might have grounds to enforce this restriction of the
network on the network controller itself, I suppose.



how would the network controller know if the software has been modified?


The loader could check that and set a flag in the controller.


what sort of signal can the network controller send that couldn't be
forged by the OS?


Whatever the network controller designer created to enable it to do
so.


how would you do this where the device is a receiver on the netwoek
(such as a satellite receiver)


If it's input-only, then you can't possibly harm the operation of the
network by only listening in, can you?


Ok, so you consider any anti-piracy measures to be something that GPLv3 
should prohibit.


thanks for finally takeing a position.

David Lang
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Lennart Sorensen wrote:

>> You can't use this code if you cooporate with anyone that requires
>> DRM systems.

> I think their earlier versions did say this.

Show me a GPLv3 draft that did it?

Start here, section 3:
http://gplv3.fsf.org/gpl-draft-2006-01-16.html

> DRM does have some legitimate uses, for example redhat installations
> not installing unsigned software is a form of DRM

Doh.  Then chmod og-r is DRM too.  And stronger DRM while at that,
since the user denied permission to read the file cannot take it back,
whereas the verification of unsigned software is just a warning, that
you can often bypass by telling the software to go ahead and install
it regardless of signatures.

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, Andrew McKay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> A balance of freedom to the licensee and the licenser.  It's my
> opinion that GPLv3 potentially shifts the balance too far to the
> licensee.

It's more of a balance of freedom between licensee and licensee,
actually.  It's a lot about making sure no one can acquire a
privileged position, such that every licensee plays under the same
rules.  (The copyright holder is not *acquiring* a privileged
position, copyright law had already granted him/her that position.)

-- 
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FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, Andrew McKay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>> how can the server tell if it's been tampered with?

> I agree with this statement.

Err...  That's a question, not a statement ;-)

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Lennart Sorensen) wrote:

> Apparently the only restrictions ever permitted are the ones the FSF
> thinks of.

Where does this nonsensical idea come from?  How does it follow that,
from FSF offering a licensing option to authors, you conclude that
nobody could ever establish whatever other restrictions they liked?

> So really what the GPL v3 wants to have is to make sure that the user
> can reproduce from the sources a bit for bit identical copy of the
> binaries?

No, this is not enough to enable someone to adapt the software to
one's own needs.

> Too bad compilers that put time stamps and such into the
> binary would make that imposible.

This would be the copyright author imposing such a restriction, not
the software distributor.

> I don't think there is any way that can be written into the GPL that
> can prevent all loop holes for how to make signed binaries.

Which is one possible reason to explain why the FSF switched to the
'Installation Information' approach.

> There doesn't have to be an agreement.  The software company could just
> release specs for a hardware design and let others freely go and build
> them from that design.

Aah, so the software company has designed a mechanism to restrict
users' freedoms, and is just leaving it up to third parties to
complete the implementation?  I think these design documents could be
used in a court to prove intent to impose restrictions on the users,
but IANAL.

>> However, if there's no such agreement, if the copyright holder has no
>> copyright claims over the hardware or works shipped in it, there's
>> nothing the copyright holder can do about it, and that's probably how
>> it should be, since a copyright license (!= contract) can't possibly
>> prohibit people from creating hardware limited in function, it can
>> only tell people that, in order for them to have permission to modify
>> or distribute the covered work, they must abide by certain conditions.
>> And if they don't want to abide by the conditions, and they don't
>> manage to obtain a license from the copyright holders that doesn't
>> impose conditions they can't accept, they just can't modify or
>> distribute the work.

> But if the hardware ships with only code that simply waits for the user
> to provide some code for it to isntall (which has to be signed in a way
> the hardware likes), then the hardware has nothing to do with the
> license of the software.

Correct.  That's pretty much what I said, isn't it?

> I hope no one does this, but I still don't see how the GPLv3 draft deals
> with this case, or even how it could deal with it.

It doesn't, and it probably shouldn't.

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, Bernd Schmidt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> I went and made some comments on the draft, and they appear to no
> longer be there a few days later.

This would be very bad.  Please let me know what they were about and
I'll try to figure out what happened.

Did you by any chance file them against an earlier draft?  Those (for
obvious reasons) no longer appear against the current draft, but
they're still accessible by other means.

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, "David Schwartz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>> On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:55:10 -0700
>> "David Schwartz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>> > A key is a number. A signature is a number. They are neither
>> > statements nor
>> > instructions. The argument that GPLv2 prohibits Tivoization is
>> > really and
>> > truly absurd. It has neither a legal nor a moral leg to stand on.

>> A computer program is a number too.

> No, it's not. It can be expressed as a number, but it is not a number.

By this logic, then a key is a key, and a signature is a signature.
They can be expressed as numbers, sure.

> A computer program is a set of instructions to accomplish a particular
> result. It can be expressed as a number, but that doesn't mean it is a
> number.

A key is an input to a cryptographical algorithm, and a signature is
an output.  I could try to come up with more creative definitions, but
you get the idea already.

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:
>> On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>> 
>>> no, one of the rules for the network is that the software must be
>>> certified,
>> 
>> In this case you might have grounds to enforce this restriction of the
>> network on the network controller itself, I suppose.

> how would the network controller know if the software has been modified?

The loader could check that and set a flag in the controller.

> what sort of signal can the network controller send that couldn't be
> forged by the OS?

Whatever the network controller designer created to enable it to do
so.

> how would you do this where the device is a receiver on the netwoek
> (such as a satellite receiver)

If it's input-only, then you can't possibly harm the operation of the
network by only listening in, can you?

-- 
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FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Stephen Clark

David Schwartz wrote:


On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:55:10 -0700
   



 


"David Schwartz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
   



 


A key is a number. A signature is a number. They are neither
statements nor
instructions. The argument that GPLv2 prohibits Tivoization is
really and
truly absurd. It has neither a legal nor a moral leg to stand on.
 



 


A computer program is a number too.
   



No, it's not. It can be expressed as a number, but it is not a number.
 


??? can be expressed as a number, but it is not a number ???
sure its a number.


Keys are purely numbers, they are nothing else. Signatures are pure
primitive facts encoded as numbers (authority X blessed object Y).

A computer program is a set of instructions to accomplish a particular
result. It can be expressed as a number, but that doesn't mean it is a
number.

It might be true in principle to develop a scheme whereby every physical
object uniquely corresponds to an extremely large number. That doesn't turn
physical objects into numbers.

DS


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--

"They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary safety, 
deserve neither liberty nor safety."  (Ben Franklin)


"The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty 
decreases."  (Thomas Jefferson)




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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alan Cox
> So much for "Land of the free". :(

That was always just a typo. Its the Land of the Fee
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread david

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Lennart Sorensen wrote:


On Thu, Jun 21, 2007 at 10:51:06AM -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

you snippede the bit about not knowing how to stop it


I did?  As far as I can tell I quoted it all.  What did I miss?


they call the section the anti-tivoization, how much more explicit can
they get?


They could be as explicit as:
You can't use this code if you cooporate with anyone that requires
DRM systems.


I think their earlier versions did say this.


All their attempts to define user devices and such is just going to
screw up and miss some things they wanted covered, and disallow things
they didn't intend to disallow (assuming there is any such thing).


by the way, just in case anyone is misunderstanding me. I don't believe
for a moment that all these anti-tamper features actually work in the real
world (the PS3 hacking kits are proof of the lengths people will go to to
make the 'hard' hardware-level hacking trivial to do) but the approach
needs to be at secure modulo hardware tampering or software bugs.


DRM is completely pointless.  It only stops casual end users from doing
things.  It doesn't stop anyone with any technical clue from doing
things.  I keep hoping one day the people in charge at the big media
companies will understand this, and stop asking for people to implement
it.  Of course in the mean time there are companies perfectly willing to
claim to have unbreakable DRM for sale, while knowing full well (if they
are competent) that it is a lie.  So as long as the people in charge at
big media are clueless about technology, and as long as there are
companies willing to lie to them for money, then we will probably
continue to have DRM crap to deal with.


DRM does have some legitimate uses, for example redhat installations not 
installing unsigned software is a form of DRM



I don't think the GPLv3 is the place to try to remove DRM.  What the FSF
should be doing is try to educate the people who are advocating the use
of DRM about the fact that it can't ever work.  You can make more and
more stupid laws about how people can't remove the DRM, but people who
break copyright obviously already are breaking the law, so what is the
point in having more lows for them to break.  That is where this problem
should be fought, not in the GPLv3.  The GPLv3 is never going to solve
the problem, only educating people can do that.


this is exactly what most of the people who are arguing against this 
provision are saying.


David Lang
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RE: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread David Schwartz
> On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:55:10 -0700

> "David Schwartz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> > A key is a number. A signature is a number. They are neither
> > statements nor
> > instructions. The argument that GPLv2 prohibits Tivoization is
> > really and
> > truly absurd. It has neither a legal nor a moral leg to stand on.

> A computer program is a number too.

No, it's not. It can be expressed as a number, but it is not a number.

Keys are purely numbers, they are nothing else. Signatures are pure
primitive facts encoded as numbers (authority X blessed object Y).

A computer program is a set of instructions to accomplish a particular
result. It can be expressed as a number, but that doesn't mean it is a
number.

It might be true in principle to develop a scheme whereby every physical
object uniquely corresponds to an extremely large number. That doesn't turn
physical objects into numbers.

DS


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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Lennart Sorensen
On Thu, Jun 21, 2007 at 10:51:06AM -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> you snippede the bit about not knowing how to stop it

I did?  As far as I can tell I quoted it all.  What did I miss?

> they call the section the anti-tivoization, how much more explicit can 
> they get?

They could be as explicit as: 
You can't use this code if you cooporate with anyone that requires
DRM systems.

All their attempts to define user devices and such is just going to
screw up and miss some things they wanted covered, and disallow things
they didn't intend to disallow (assuming there is any such thing).

> by the way, just in case anyone is misunderstanding me. I don't believe 
> for a moment that all these anti-tamper features actually work in the real 
> world (the PS3 hacking kits are proof of the lengths people will go to to 
> make the 'hard' hardware-level hacking trivial to do) but the approach 
> needs to be at secure modulo hardware tampering or software bugs.

DRM is completely pointless.  It only stops casual end users from doing
things.  It doesn't stop anyone with any technical clue from doing
things.  I keep hoping one day the people in charge at the big media
companies will understand this, and stop asking for people to implement
it.  Of course in the mean time there are companies perfectly willing to
claim to have unbreakable DRM for sale, while knowing full well (if they
are competent) that it is a lie.  So as long as the people in charge at
big media are clueless about technology, and as long as there are
companies willing to lie to them for money, then we will probably
continue to have DRM crap to deal with.

I don't think the GPLv3 is the place to try to remove DRM.  What the FSF
should be doing is try to educate the people who are advocating the use
of DRM about the fact that it can't ever work.  You can make more and
more stupid laws about how people can't remove the DRM, but people who
break copyright obviously already are breaking the law, so what is the
point in having more lows for them to break.  That is where this problem
should be fought, not in the GPLv3.  The GPLv3 is never going to solve
the problem, only educating people can do that.

--
Len Sorensen
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread david

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Lennart Sorensen wrote:


On Thu, Jun 21, 2007 at 10:26:04AM -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

the bios doesn't have enough capability to talk to the outside world for
updates.


Of course, although perhaps it could.  More likely my thought was that
the service when it decides to download an update, would include the
updated bios image and put it on the boot drive where the existing bios
can find it.  No signature needs to be added to the boot drive or
kernel, just checksums in the bios image.


what tivo actually does is very similar to this

they encode into the bios the ability to check a checksum/signature for
the kernel+boot filesystem and if they don't match look to see if there is
another kernel+boot filesystem available

then software on the boot filesystem checks to see if the rest of the
system has been tampered with before it mounts /


you snippede the bit about not knowing how to stop it


the GPLv3 is trying to do this.


Perhaps they should just explicitly say that then.


they call the section the anti-tivoization, how much more explicit can 
they get?


David Lang

by the way, just in case anyone is misunderstanding me. I don't believe 
for a moment that all these anti-tamper features actually work in the real 
world (the PS3 hacking kits are proof of the lengths people will go to to 
make the 'hard' hardware-level hacking trivial to do) but the approach 
needs to be at secure modulo hardware tampering or software bugs.


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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Lennart Sorensen
On Thu, Jun 21, 2007 at 10:26:04AM -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> the bios doesn't have enough capability to talk to the outside world for 
> updates.

Of course, although perhaps it could.  More likely my thought was that
the service when it decides to download an update, would include the
updated bios image and put it on the boot drive where the existing bios
can find it.  No signature needs to be added to the boot drive or
kernel, just checksums in the bios image.

> what tivo actually does is very similar to this
> 
> they encode into the bios the ability to check a checksum/signature for 
> the kernel+boot filesystem and if they don't match look to see if there is 
> another kernel+boot filesystem available
> 
> then software on the boot filesystem checks to see if the rest of the 
> system has been tampered with before it mounts /
> 
> the GPLv3 is trying to do this.

Perhaps they should just explicitly say that then.

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread david

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Lennart Sorensen wrote:



On Wed, Jun 20, 2007 at 04:07:57PM -0400, Michael Poole wrote:

I do not say that the BIOS is doing anything (legally) wrong.  The
wrong act is distributing the binary kernel image without distributing
complete source code for it.


So how about this idea then:

Tivo builds a kernel for their box, and release all the sources for how
to build exactly that kernel.

Tivo builds a bios image for their box, and encodes into it the checksum
of the kernel, or at least parts of it that they want to ensure are
present and unmodified.

Everytime the device boots, it checks the kernel image, and it the
checksums match, it loads and runs the kernel, and otherwise it checks
if there is a new bios image with a proper signature, updates itself and
reboots and tries again.


the bios doesn't have enough capability to talk to the outside world for 
updates.


what tivo actually does is very similar to this

they encode into the bios the ability to check a checksum/signature for 
the kernel+boot filesystem and if they don't match look to see if there is 
another kernel+boot filesystem available


then software on the boot filesystem checks to see if the rest of the 
system has been tampered with before it mounts /



Preventing people from doing things with their own hardware certainly
seems morally wrong, but legally, I don't see any way to prevent it.

I suppose you could say in the license: You may not use this code in any
way if you do what the RIPP/MPAA/etc want you to do.


the GPLv3 is trying to do this.

David Lang
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Lennart Sorensen
On Wed, Jun 20, 2007 at 04:07:57PM -0400, Michael Poole wrote:
> I do not say that the BIOS is doing anything (legally) wrong.  The
> wrong act is distributing the binary kernel image without distributing
> complete source code for it.

So how about this idea then:

Tivo builds a kernel for their box, and release all the sources for how
to build exactly that kernel.

Tivo builds a bios image for their box, and encodes into it the checksum
of the kernel, or at least parts of it that they want to ensure are
present and unmodified.

Everytime the device boots, it checks the kernel image, and it the
checksums match, it loads and runs the kernel, and otherwise it checks
if there is a new bios image with a proper signature, updates itself and
reboots and tries again.

Preventing people from doing things with their own hardware certainly
seems morally wrong, but legally, I don't see any way to prevent it.

I suppose you could say in the license: You may not use this code in any
way if you do what the RIPP/MPAA/etc want you to do.

--
Len Sorensen
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Lennart Sorensen
On Thu, Jun 21, 2007 at 01:23:01AM -0300, Alexandre Oliva wrote:
> And then the user who uses such features in ways not permitted by the
> copyright holders are committing a crime.  They can be prosecuted by
> the copyright holders and convicted of the crime.

Well we already clearly know the content providers in the US don't trust
anyone else, and certainly don't think just using copyright laws to sue
people who violate copyright is enough.  No they want to put all sorts
of things in place to try to prevent it from even being possible to
violate copyright in the first place.  They don't believe in innocent
until proven guilty at all.

> That TiVo can somehow become liable for this just shows how broken the
> legal system in the US is.  It's like making a knife manufacturer
> liable for a killing using a knife they made, just because the knife
> didn't have technical measures intended to prevent the knife from
> being used to kill people.

So much for "Land of the free". :(

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread david

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Tomas Neme wrote:


>  as long as this right is not used by the software distributor to
>  impose restrictions on the user's ability to adapt the software to
>  their own needs.  The GPLv3 paragraph above makes a fair concession in
>  this regard, don't you agree?

 no, one of the rules for the network is that the software must be
 certified, you are requireing the device to permit the software to be
 changed to an uncertified version.(to store credit card numbers and send
 them to a third party for example)


Also another way of doing this is having every network ask the kernel
for its key, and checking it. If it doesn't match a certified key,
then not allowing you to access the network.


no, this doesn't work becouse if the software has been altered you don't 
know if the key it's giving you matches that software. it could be giving 
you the key from the unmodified software.


David Lang

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Andrew McKay

Alan Cox wrote:

You've made an important mistake. You said "their system". Now its "our
code" and "whoever bought the units' hardware" so it isn't their anything.
Yes, the hardware belongs to the user, and the software belongs to the Linux 
community.   However I think I wasn't 100% clear, I also mean keeping companies 
networks and content secured.  Credit card companies insuring the software 
hasn't been modified to skim cards (not that it's the only way to skim a card), 


If credit card companies are doing this they are failing badly and it
clearly isn't working. Also lets be clear about this - I don't need any
credit card company network access to skim older cards, and the newer
ones have been broken by various non software schemes.


Agreed.  Credit card companies are failing very badly at preventing skimming. 
They definitely need to rethink their model of how the credit card system should 
work.




  or Tivo making sure that their content providers are protected.  Lets look at 
the credit card example.  Sure the user could modify the system and boot their 
own kernel, but it doesn't have to play nice with Mastercard's network anymore. 
  Or better yet, would actually report that a certain business's card reader had 
been tampered with.


That to me is a fair comment. I should IMHO be able to load my code and
my keys on my Tivo. And Walt Disney in return probably should be quite
free not to trust my keys. You need some fairly strong competition law
enforcement to make all that work right in the marketplace but as a
philosophical basis it seems fine. In practice it is likely to lead to
serious monopoly abuse problems and all sorts of ugly tying of goods that
you don't want in a free market. Given the completely ineffectual way the
US enforces its anti-monopoly law, and the slowness of the EU at it the
results might well be bad - but for other reasons.


I agree as well, the model could be heavily abused.  I'm not sure what the 
solution is as far as fighting monopolies and corporate greed.  But I'd rather 
that it was fought through education of consumers and not with a license 
agreement that should be giving people freedom.  A balance of freedom to the 
licensee and the licenser.  It's my opinion that GPLv3 potentially shifts the 
balance too far to the licensee.


Andrew McKay
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Andrew McKay

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


how exactly can they prevent a system that's been tampered with from
accessing their network?


By denying access to their servers?  By not granting whatever is
needed to initiate network sessions?

And note, "it's been tampered with" is not necessarily enough of a
reason to cut someone off, it has to meet these requirements:


how can the server tell if it's been tampered with?



I agree with this statement.  Imagine a proprietary private network where a 
device has been modified to run in an invisible promiscuous mode.  The device 
looks as if it isn't doing anything wrong, but is forwarding the network out 
another interface.  The only way to prevent that type of attack is to not allow 
unauthorized signed Kernels onto that network.


Andrew McKay
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Lennart Sorensen
On Thu, Jun 21, 2007 at 10:56:33AM +0400, Manu Abraham wrote:
> Providing the changes back itself is a great thing altogether.

It also makes sense.  If the changes are accepted back, the community at
large will keep the changes maintained.  Less work for me to do when
going to newer code versions later.  And even better, it may help
someone else out too.

A company is likely to like the reduced maintenance burden part, but I
think the other part is even better.  After all we saved time not having
to write everything our selves, so helping others save time seems only
fair.  The GPL may only require giving the sources to the people who
buys the product, but there isn't really any benefit to us in doing only
that.

--
Len Sorensen
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Lennart Sorensen
On Wed, Jun 20, 2007 at 05:52:40PM -0300, Alexandre Oliva wrote:
> On Jun 20, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Lennart Sorensen) wrote:
> > A patent prevents you from using the software in any way at all,
> > while a hardware restriction prevents you from using the software on
> > that particular hardware, but not on lots of other hardware.  Very
> > big difference.
> 
> So, one disrespects a lot, the other disrespects a little.  Is that
> relevant, when the requirement is "no further restrictions"?

What about the freedom to buy devices with certified code on it, while
still being able to look through the source code and verify for yourself
that it is correct and not full of bugs?  Would it be better if the
devices that have to be certified and locked down used secret code so
that the purchaser can't verify the code?

Apparently the only restrictions ever permitted are the ones the FSF
thinks of.

> > So what would happen if some company was to make software for a tivo and
> > released their binaries signed with some specific key, and they released
> > information on how to check this was signed with their key, and then
> > some other companies went and made tivo hardware and decided that they
> > would only allow code signed by the first companies key to run on it,
> 
> I was pretty sure this had been covered in the section about technical
> barriers to modification in the third draft's rationale, but I can't
> find it right now.  http://gplv3.fsf.org/gpl3-dd3-rationale.pdf

So really what the GPL v3 wants to have is to make sure that the user
can reproduce from the sources a bit for bit identical copy of the
binaries?  Too bad compilers that put time stamps and such into the
binary would make that imposible.  I don't think there is any way that
can be written into the GPL that can prevent all loop holes for how to
make signed binaries.

> Anyhow, the argument I read went like: if there's an agreement between
> the parties to do this, then the copyright holder can probably enforce
> the license regardless of the software and hardware distributor being
> different parties, since the software is being distributed with
> information whose purpose is to enable the hardware to deny the user
> the freedom to run modified versions of the software.

There doesn't have to be an agreement.  The software company could just
release specs for a hardware design and let others freely go and build
them from that design.

> However, if there's no such agreement, if the copyright holder has no
> copyright claims over the hardware or works shipped in it, there's
> nothing the copyright holder can do about it, and that's probably how
> it should be, since a copyright license (!= contract) can't possibly
> prohibit people from creating hardware limited in function, it can
> only tell people that, in order for them to have permission to modify
> or distribute the covered work, they must abide by certain conditions.
> And if they don't want to abide by the conditions, and they don't
> manage to obtain a license from the copyright holders that doesn't
> impose conditions they can't accept, they just can't modify or
> distribute the work.

But if the hardware ships with only code that simply waits for the user
to provide some code for it to isntall (which has to be signed in a way
the hardware likes), then the hardware has nothing to do with the
license of the software.

The signed binaries from the service provider/software developer on the
other hand is GPL and the sources are released with changes.  They just
happen to sign their binaries in a way that allows them to install on
the hardware in question.  It could also install on hardware that
doesn't check the signature as long as it is functionally identical
otherwise.

I hope no one does this, but I still don't see how the GPLv3 draft deals
with this case, or even how it could deal with it.

--
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Tomas Neme

> as long as this right is not used by the software distributor to
> impose restrictions on the user's ability to adapt the software to
> their own needs.  The GPLv3 paragraph above makes a fair concession in
> this regard, don't you agree?

no, one of the rules for the network is that the software must be
certified, you are requireing the device to permit the software to be
changed to an uncertified version.(to store credit card numbers and send
them to a third party for example)


Also another way of doing this is having every network ask the kernel
for its key, and checking it. If it doesn't match a certified key,
then not allowing you to access the network.

Besides the fact that this would be a very costly approach, having
every network needing to update their certified keys list every time
TiVo and every other DVR vendor updates their kernels, it would also
prevent any form of modified software to give you any of the TiVo's
expected functionality: it would load, you would be able to play pong
on it, but not watch or record TV, and they can't be blamed for it,
because if the kernel's been tampered with, it might have been made so
it saves the video unencrypted on the Harddrive, and it certainly *is*
the network's right to stop you from doing so. So what the fuck do you
want from them?

T

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alan Cox
> > You've made an important mistake. You said "their system". Now its "our
> > code" and "whoever bought the units' hardware" so it isn't their anything.
> 
> Yes, the hardware belongs to the user, and the software belongs to the Linux 
> community.   However I think I wasn't 100% clear, I also mean keeping 
> companies 
> networks and content secured.  Credit card companies insuring the software 
> hasn't been modified to skim cards (not that it's the only way to skim a 
> card), 

If credit card companies are doing this they are failing badly and it
clearly isn't working. Also lets be clear about this - I don't need any
credit card company network access to skim older cards, and the newer
ones have been broken by various non software schemes.

>   or Tivo making sure that their content providers are protected.  Lets look 
> at 
> the credit card example.  Sure the user could modify the system and boot 
> their 
> own kernel, but it doesn't have to play nice with Mastercard's network 
> anymore. 
>   Or better yet, would actually report that a certain business's card reader 
> had 
> been tampered with.

That to me is a fair comment. I should IMHO be able to load my code and
my keys on my Tivo. And Walt Disney in return probably should be quite
free not to trust my keys. You need some fairly strong competition law
enforcement to make all that work right in the marketplace but as a
philosophical basis it seems fine. In practice it is likely to lead to
serious monopoly abuse problems and all sorts of ugly tying of goods that
you don't want in a free market. Given the completely ineffectual way the
US enforces its anti-monopoly law, and the slowness of the EU at it the
results might well be bad - but for other reasons.

Alan


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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alan Cox
On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:55:10 -0700
"David Schwartz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> 
> > The kernel you build from the source code that Tivo distributes must
> > be accepted by Tivo's hardware without making other modifications (to
> > Tivo's hardware or bootloader).  If that is possible, I will retract
> > what I said.  If it is not possible, they are omitting part of the
> > program's source code:
> >
> > A "computer program" is a set of statements or instructions to be
> > used directly or indirectly in a computer in order to bring about
> > a certain result.
> > -- US Code, Title 17, Section 101
> 
> A key is a number. A signature is a number. They are neither statements nor
> instructions. The argument that GPLv2 prohibits Tivoization is really and
> truly absurd. It has neither a legal nor a moral leg to stand on.

A computer program is a number too.

Alan
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Bernd Schmidt

Greg KH wrote:

On Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 02:56:24AM -0300, Alexandre Oliva wrote:

If you want your opinions to stand a chance to make a difference, the
right place to provide them is gplv3.fsf.org/comments, and time is
running short.

[...]

So, why would we want to waste our time filling out web forms after
that?


In case anyone was wondering if the FSF is genuinely interested in 
feedback - I went and made some comments on the draft, and they appear 
to no longer be there a few days later.  Thanks for the invitation Alex.



Bernd

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Tim Post
On Wed, 2007-06-20 at 22:30 -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> 
> asking a device that's running software that you haven't verified to give 
> you a checksum of itself isn't going to work becouse the software can just 
> lie to you.
> 

I don't think there is any way I _could_ make a device if it had to be
tamper proof and use free software if that was the case. 

I'd need to make some kind of proprietary network connection back to my
company that used its own network device. I could not trust it if the
free kernel could touch it, if I wanted to allow a modified in place
kernel.

If I hope for that device to use the internet to talk to me (i.e. just a
secondary nic), I'd have to write my own kernel to power this second
network device that was capable of encrypting and validating traffic
over tcp-ip. Or I have to pull my own copper to every location where my
device is used.

So either way, I'm writing my own kernel if I want to do that, because I
could not POSSIBLY allow the kernel talking to my private connection to
the device to be modified. 

What a nasty, vicious cycle that would be. Yikes!
 

--Tim


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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Manu Abraham
Bernd Petrovitsch wrote:
> On Wed, 2007-06-20 at 18:14 -0300, Tomas Neme wrote:
> []
>> Why, if you let user-compiled kernels to run in a TiVo, it might be
>> modified so the TiVo can be used to pirate-copy protected content,
> 
> Or it might be modified to fix a bug - either a technical one or a legal
> one as described below.
> 
>> which is a serious security hole. TiVo would need to read, approve of,
> 
> "Pirate copying" is forbidden anyways in almost every jurisdiction
> AFAIK. Perhaps we should disallow cars on the streets since one could
> drive too fast with them.
> 

Pirate copying should not be a reason to keep things closed as there are
better methods to keep things open, yet provide a _not_ free service.
But that would be upto the vendor how/what they wish to do rather than
we talking about it. Which would be of no use.

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Bernd Petrovitsch
On Wed, 2007-06-20 at 18:14 -0300, Tomas Neme wrote:
[]
> Why, if you let user-compiled kernels to run in a TiVo, it might be
> modified so the TiVo can be used to pirate-copy protected content,

Or it might be modified to fix a bug - either a technical one or a legal
one as described below.

> which is a serious security hole. TiVo would need to read, approve of,

"Pirate copying" is forbidden anyways in almost every jurisdiction
AFAIK. Perhaps we should disallow cars on the streets since one could
drive too fast with them.

And it is not a security hole for the owner of the hardware (I consider
secret keys somewhere else a much greater security threat) to the Linux
community or a lot of other entities. Probably just music industry
thinks like above.

And there are legislations were it is *legal* to make private copies
(for sure as long as you don't pass them on and somewhere even giving
away for nothing is legal). So I actually have a *right* (which also
can't be killed by contracts) to copy that movie for my private use. And
up to now it is actually legal in .at to do (more or less) everything to
get this right (and that may include hacking the device).

> and sign any modified kernels the users intend to use on their
> hardware. If GPLv3 allows for this, it'd be doing exactly that

Bernd
-- 
Firmix Software GmbH   http://www.firmix.at/
mobil: +43 664 4416156 fax: +43 1 7890849-55
  Embedded Linux Development and Services


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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Manu Abraham
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> what sort of signal can the network controller send that couldn't be
> forged by the OS?
> 
> how would you do this where the device is a receiver on the netwoek
> (such as a satellite receiver)

just for the question on the HOWTO (not on anything else)

You can easily have scrambled streams with regards to DVB, eg: using
EN50221. Some (like NDS for example in _some_ instances) use proprietary
schemes, but there are standards based methods also. eg: Common
Scrambling Algorithm (CSA)

But in any case, this can be broken down too .. :-)
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread david

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


no, one of the rules for the network is that the software must be
certified,


In this case you might have grounds to enforce this restriction of the
network on the network controller itself, I suppose.


how would the network controller know if the software has been modified?


Not that you should disable the network controller entirely (this
would render the computer useless for many other purpose unrelated
with blocking connections to your network).

You could instead arrange for the network controller to send some
signal that enables the network to recognize that the device is
running certified software.


what sort of signal can the network controller send that couldn't be 
forged by the OS?


how would you do this where the device is a receiver on the netwoek (such 
as a satellite receiver)


David Lang
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread david

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


frankly, I haven't checked the licenses on the software. I'd suggest
going to www.tivo.com/linux and download all the source for all the
different versions there.


Yeah, thanks, I remembered someone had posted that URL the second
after a hit Send :-(

I've already got cmd.tar.gz and I'm looking at it now.

Thanks again,


by the way, it looks like there is one wireless driver that they ship
in some releases but don't provide the source for. but if you plan on
going after them for that you better go after everyone who ships
binary kernel modules.


Only copyright holders of Linux can go after them on matters of kernel
drivers.  Or is this driver derived from any software copyrighted by
myself?  Or did you mean the FSF, with whom I'm not associated in any
way other than ideologically?


from the page listed above

NOTE: 4.0.1a and later releases contain Atmel WLAN drivers in addition to 
the other network adapter drivers that are posted here. These WLAN drivers 
were received by TiVo directly from Atmel and are under the terms of a 
formal non-disclosure agreement, so we cannot publish them under the terms 
of the GPL version 2. Atmel has since released a different version of the 
drivers under the GPL version 2; however, that release does not change our 
prior obligation with Atmel. At this time, we have no plans to use Atmel's 
publicly released drivers in our development.


when I talked about 'going after tivo' I wasn't just refering to doing so 
with lawsuits. the way some people in this thread have acted I could see 
people trying to use this as 'the smoking gun' that proves that the evil 
tivo people didn't release everything they were supposed to.


modules are a grey area, some are clearly derived from the kernel and some 
are just as clearly not derived from the kernel, most are not as clear. I 
don't know the situation for this particular module, but that has nothing 
to do with this topic.


David Lang
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> no, one of the rules for the network is that the software must be
> certified,

In this case you might have grounds to enforce this restriction of the
network on the network controller itself, I suppose.

Not that you should disable the network controller entirely (this
would render the computer useless for many other purpose unrelated
with blocking connections to your network).

You could instead arrange for the network controller to send some
signal that enables the network to recognize that the device is
running certified software.

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> frankly, I haven't checked the licenses on the software. I'd suggest
> going to www.tivo.com/linux and download all the source for all the
> different versions there.

Yeah, thanks, I remembered someone had posted that URL the second
after a hit Send :-(

I've already got cmd.tar.gz and I'm looking at it now.

Thanks again,

> by the way, it looks like there is one wireless driver that they ship
> in some releases but don't provide the source for. but if you plan on
> going after them for that you better go after everyone who ships
> binary kernel modules.

Only copyright holders of Linux can go after them on matters of kernel
drivers.  Or is this driver derived from any software copyrighted by
myself?  Or did you mean the FSF, with whom I'm not associated in any
way other than ideologically?

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Manu Abraham
Lennart Sorensen wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 19, 2007 at 07:28:22PM +0400, Manu Abraham wrote:
>> Well, it is not Tivo alone -- look at http://aminocom.com/ for an
>> example. If you want the kernel sources pay USD 50k and we will provide
>> the kernel sources, was their attitude.
> 
> Hmm, set top boxes are often rented from the cable company rather than
> sold.  Stupid grey area for sure.  At least tivo does give you the
> sources, without demanding more money.  Rather big difference.

I am not talking about the rented aspect, since these STB's are usually
sold rather than rented.

>> Well, it is not Tivo alone, a large chunk of the vendors do that. The
>> vendors who actually do it the clean way are just few and can be counted
>> very easily.
> 
> Well at least where I work we don't try to lock down the hardware, we do
> contribute our changes and bug fixes to upstream when it makes sense
> (and where our changes wouldn't make sense for upstream, they are still
> clearly included with the sources we have.)  If a customer wants a copy
> of the sources, they will get a nice DVD, although strangely none have
> asked for one yet.


Providing the changes back itself is a great thing altogether.

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread david

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


how exactly can they prevent a system that's been tampered with from
accessing their network?


By denying access to their servers?  By not granting whatever is
needed to initiate network sessions?

And note, "it's been tampered with" is not necessarily enough of a
reason to cut someone off, it has to meet these requirements:


how can the server tell if it's been tampered with?


  when the modification itself materially and adversely affects the
  operation of the network or violates the rules and protocols for
  communication across the network.



(something even you say they have a right to do)


as long as this right is not used by the software distributor to
impose restrictions on the user's ability to adapt the software to
their own needs.  The GPLv3 paragraph above makes a fair concession in
this regard, don't you agree?


no, one of the rules for the network is that the software must be 
certified, you are requireing the device to permit the software to be 
changed to an uncertified version.(to store credit card numbers and send 
them to a third party for example)


David Lang
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread david

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:

On Jun 20, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


but the signature isn't part of the kernel, and the code that checks
the signature is completely independant.


Well, then remove or otherwise mangle the signature in the disk of
your TiVo DVR and see at what point the boot-up process halts.



I have actually done exactly that. what happens is that the bootloader
detects a problem and switches to the other active partition ane
reboots. ir neither of the boot partitions meet the requirements the
cycle will continue forever.


Oh, too bad.  That must be a bug in the boot loader, right? :-)


BTW, since you got a TiVo...  I'm writing an article on Tivoization,
could you (or anyone else) please help me get information as to what
other GPLed programs or libraries TiVo includes in their devices?

Thanks in advance,


frankly, I haven't checked the licenses on the software. I'd suggest going 
to www.tivo.com/linux and download all the source for all the different 
versions there.


by the way, it looks like there is one wireless driver that they ship in 
some releases but don't provide the source for. but if you plan on going 
after them for that you better go after everyone who ships binary kernel 
modules.


David Lang
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> how exactly can they prevent a system that's been tampered with from
> accessing their network?

By denying access to their servers?  By not granting whatever is
needed to initiate network sessions?

And note, "it's been tampered with" is not necessarily enough of a
reason to cut someone off, it has to meet these requirements:

>   when the modification itself materially and adversely affects the
>   operation of the network or violates the rules and protocols for
>   communication across the network.

> (something even you say they have a right to do)

as long as this right is not used by the software distributor to
impose restrictions on the user's ability to adapt the software to
their own needs.  The GPLv3 paragraph above makes a fair concession in
this regard, don't you agree?

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:
>> On Jun 20, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>> 
>>> but the signature isn't part of the kernel, and the code that checks
>>> the signature is completely independant.
>> 
>> Well, then remove or otherwise mangle the signature in the disk of
>> your TiVo DVR and see at what point the boot-up process halts.

> I have actually done exactly that. what happens is that the bootloader
> detects a problem and switches to the other active partition ane
> reboots. ir neither of the boot partitions meet the requirements the
> cycle will continue forever.

Oh, too bad.  That must be a bug in the boot loader, right? :-)


BTW, since you got a TiVo...  I'm writing an article on Tivoization,
could you (or anyone else) please help me get information as to what
other GPLed programs or libraries TiVo includes in their devices?

Thanks in advance,

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:
 On Jun 20, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 
 but the signature isn't part of the kernel, and the code that checks
 the signature is completely independant.
 
 Well, then remove or otherwise mangle the signature in the disk of
 your TiVo DVR and see at what point the boot-up process halts.

 I have actually done exactly that. what happens is that the bootloader
 detects a problem and switches to the other active partition ane
 reboots. ir neither of the boot partitions meet the requirements the
 cycle will continue forever.

Oh, too bad.  That must be a bug in the boot loader, right? :-)


BTW, since you got a TiVo...  I'm writing an article on Tivoization,
could you (or anyone else) please help me get information as to what
other GPLed programs or libraries TiVo includes in their devices?

Thanks in advance,

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 how exactly can they prevent a system that's been tampered with from
 accessing their network?

By denying access to their servers?  By not granting whatever is
needed to initiate network sessions?

And note, it's been tampered with is not necessarily enough of a
reason to cut someone off, it has to meet these requirements:

   when the modification itself materially and adversely affects the
   operation of the network or violates the rules and protocols for
   communication across the network.

 (something even you say they have a right to do)

as long as this right is not used by the software distributor to
impose restrictions on the user's ability to adapt the software to
their own needs.  The GPLv3 paragraph above makes a fair concession in
this regard, don't you agree?

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread david

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:

On Jun 20, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


but the signature isn't part of the kernel, and the code that checks
the signature is completely independant.


Well, then remove or otherwise mangle the signature in the disk of
your TiVo DVR and see at what point the boot-up process halts.



I have actually done exactly that. what happens is that the bootloader
detects a problem and switches to the other active partition ane
reboots. ir neither of the boot partitions meet the requirements the
cycle will continue forever.


Oh, too bad.  That must be a bug in the boot loader, right? :-)


BTW, since you got a TiVo...  I'm writing an article on Tivoization,
could you (or anyone else) please help me get information as to what
other GPLed programs or libraries TiVo includes in their devices?

Thanks in advance,


frankly, I haven't checked the licenses on the software. I'd suggest going 
to www.tivo.com/linux and download all the source for all the different 
versions there.


by the way, it looks like there is one wireless driver that they ship in 
some releases but don't provide the source for. but if you plan on going 
after them for that you better go after everyone who ships binary kernel 
modules.


David Lang
-
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the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread david

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


how exactly can they prevent a system that's been tampered with from
accessing their network?


By denying access to their servers?  By not granting whatever is
needed to initiate network sessions?

And note, it's been tampered with is not necessarily enough of a
reason to cut someone off, it has to meet these requirements:


how can the server tell if it's been tampered with?


  when the modification itself materially and adversely affects the
  operation of the network or violates the rules and protocols for
  communication across the network.



(something even you say they have a right to do)


as long as this right is not used by the software distributor to
impose restrictions on the user's ability to adapt the software to
their own needs.  The GPLv3 paragraph above makes a fair concession in
this regard, don't you agree?


no, one of the rules for the network is that the software must be 
certified, you are requireing the device to permit the software to be 
changed to an uncertified version.(to store credit card numbers and send 
them to a third party for example)


David Lang
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Manu Abraham
Lennart Sorensen wrote:
 On Tue, Jun 19, 2007 at 07:28:22PM +0400, Manu Abraham wrote:
 Well, it is not Tivo alone -- look at http://aminocom.com/ for an
 example. If you want the kernel sources pay USD 50k and we will provide
 the kernel sources, was their attitude.
 
 Hmm, set top boxes are often rented from the cable company rather than
 sold.  Stupid grey area for sure.  At least tivo does give you the
 sources, without demanding more money.  Rather big difference.

I am not talking about the rented aspect, since these STB's are usually
sold rather than rented.

 Well, it is not Tivo alone, a large chunk of the vendors do that. The
 vendors who actually do it the clean way are just few and can be counted
 very easily.
 
 Well at least where I work we don't try to lock down the hardware, we do
 contribute our changes and bug fixes to upstream when it makes sense
 (and where our changes wouldn't make sense for upstream, they are still
 clearly included with the sources we have.)  If a customer wants a copy
 of the sources, they will get a nice DVD, although strangely none have
 asked for one yet.


Providing the changes back itself is a great thing altogether.

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 frankly, I haven't checked the licenses on the software. I'd suggest
 going to www.tivo.com/linux and download all the source for all the
 different versions there.

Yeah, thanks, I remembered someone had posted that URL the second
after a hit Send :-(

I've already got cmd.tar.gz and I'm looking at it now.

Thanks again,

 by the way, it looks like there is one wireless driver that they ship
 in some releases but don't provide the source for. but if you plan on
 going after them for that you better go after everyone who ships
 binary kernel modules.

Only copyright holders of Linux can go after them on matters of kernel
drivers.  Or is this driver derived from any software copyrighted by
myself?  Or did you mean the FSF, with whom I'm not associated in any
way other than ideologically?

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Alexandre Oliva
On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 no, one of the rules for the network is that the software must be
 certified,

In this case you might have grounds to enforce this restriction of the
network on the network controller itself, I suppose.

Not that you should disable the network controller entirely (this
would render the computer useless for many other purpose unrelated
with blocking connections to your network).

You could instead arrange for the network controller to send some
signal that enables the network to recognize that the device is
running certified software.

-- 
Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   [EMAIL PROTECTED], gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  [EMAIL PROTECTED], gnu.org}
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread david

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


frankly, I haven't checked the licenses on the software. I'd suggest
going to www.tivo.com/linux and download all the source for all the
different versions there.


Yeah, thanks, I remembered someone had posted that URL the second
after a hit Send :-(

I've already got cmd.tar.gz and I'm looking at it now.

Thanks again,


by the way, it looks like there is one wireless driver that they ship
in some releases but don't provide the source for. but if you plan on
going after them for that you better go after everyone who ships
binary kernel modules.


Only copyright holders of Linux can go after them on matters of kernel
drivers.  Or is this driver derived from any software copyrighted by
myself?  Or did you mean the FSF, with whom I'm not associated in any
way other than ideologically?


from the page listed above

NOTE: 4.0.1a and later releases contain Atmel WLAN drivers in addition to 
the other network adapter drivers that are posted here. These WLAN drivers 
were received by TiVo directly from Atmel and are under the terms of a 
formal non-disclosure agreement, so we cannot publish them under the terms 
of the GPL version 2. Atmel has since released a different version of the 
drivers under the GPL version 2; however, that release does not change our 
prior obligation with Atmel. At this time, we have no plans to use Atmel's 
publicly released drivers in our development.


when I talked about 'going after tivo' I wasn't just refering to doing so 
with lawsuits. the way some people in this thread have acted I could see 
people trying to use this as 'the smoking gun' that proves that the evil 
tivo people didn't release everything they were supposed to.


modules are a grey area, some are clearly derived from the kernel and some 
are just as clearly not derived from the kernel, most are not as clear. I 
don't know the situation for this particular module, but that has nothing 
to do with this topic.


David Lang
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread david

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Alexandre Oliva wrote:


On Jun 21, 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


no, one of the rules for the network is that the software must be
certified,


In this case you might have grounds to enforce this restriction of the
network on the network controller itself, I suppose.


how would the network controller know if the software has been modified?


Not that you should disable the network controller entirely (this
would render the computer useless for many other purpose unrelated
with blocking connections to your network).

You could instead arrange for the network controller to send some
signal that enables the network to recognize that the device is
running certified software.


what sort of signal can the network controller send that couldn't be 
forged by the OS?


how would you do this where the device is a receiver on the netwoek (such 
as a satellite receiver)


David Lang
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Manu Abraham
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 what sort of signal can the network controller send that couldn't be
 forged by the OS?
 
 how would you do this where the device is a receiver on the netwoek
 (such as a satellite receiver)

just for the question on the HOWTO (not on anything else)

You can easily have scrambled streams with regards to DVB, eg: using
EN50221. Some (like NDS for example in _some_ instances) use proprietary
schemes, but there are standards based methods also. eg: Common
Scrambling Algorithm (CSA)

But in any case, this can be broken down too .. :-)
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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Bernd Petrovitsch
On Wed, 2007-06-20 at 18:14 -0300, Tomas Neme wrote:
[]
 Why, if you let user-compiled kernels to run in a TiVo, it might be
 modified so the TiVo can be used to pirate-copy protected content,

Or it might be modified to fix a bug - either a technical one or a legal
one as described below.

 which is a serious security hole. TiVo would need to read, approve of,

Pirate copying is forbidden anyways in almost every jurisdiction
AFAIK. Perhaps we should disallow cars on the streets since one could
drive too fast with them.

And it is not a security hole for the owner of the hardware (I consider
secret keys somewhere else a much greater security threat) to the Linux
community or a lot of other entities. Probably just music industry
thinks like above.

And there are legislations were it is *legal* to make private copies
(for sure as long as you don't pass them on and somewhere even giving
away for nothing is legal). So I actually have a *right* (which also
can't be killed by contracts) to copy that movie for my private use. And
up to now it is actually legal in .at to do (more or less) everything to
get this right (and that may include hacking the device).

 and sign any modified kernels the users intend to use on their
 hardware. If GPLv3 allows for this, it'd be doing exactly that

Bernd
-- 
Firmix Software GmbH   http://www.firmix.at/
mobil: +43 664 4416156 fax: +43 1 7890849-55
  Embedded Linux Development and Services


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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Manu Abraham
Bernd Petrovitsch wrote:
 On Wed, 2007-06-20 at 18:14 -0300, Tomas Neme wrote:
 []
 Why, if you let user-compiled kernels to run in a TiVo, it might be
 modified so the TiVo can be used to pirate-copy protected content,
 
 Or it might be modified to fix a bug - either a technical one or a legal
 one as described below.
 
 which is a serious security hole. TiVo would need to read, approve of,
 
 Pirate copying is forbidden anyways in almost every jurisdiction
 AFAIK. Perhaps we should disallow cars on the streets since one could
 drive too fast with them.
 

Pirate copying should not be a reason to keep things closed as there are
better methods to keep things open, yet provide a _not_ free service.
But that would be upto the vendor how/what they wish to do rather than
we talking about it. Which would be of no use.

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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Tim Post
On Wed, 2007-06-20 at 22:30 -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 
 asking a device that's running software that you haven't verified to give 
 you a checksum of itself isn't going to work becouse the software can just 
 lie to you.
 

I don't think there is any way I _could_ make a device if it had to be
tamper proof and use free software if that was the case. 

I'd need to make some kind of proprietary network connection back to my
company that used its own network device. I could not trust it if the
free kernel could touch it, if I wanted to allow a modified in place
kernel.

If I hope for that device to use the internet to talk to me (i.e. just a
secondary nic), I'd have to write my own kernel to power this second
network device that was capable of encrypting and validating traffic
over tcp-ip. Or I have to pull my own copper to every location where my
device is used.

So either way, I'm writing my own kernel if I want to do that, because I
could not POSSIBLY allow the kernel talking to my private connection to
the device to be modified. 

What a nasty, vicious cycle that would be. Yikes!
 

--Tim


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Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

2007-06-21 Thread Bernd Schmidt

Greg KH wrote:

On Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 02:56:24AM -0300, Alexandre Oliva wrote:

If you want your opinions to stand a chance to make a difference, the
right place to provide them is gplv3.fsf.org/comments, and time is
running short.

[...]

So, why would we want to waste our time filling out web forms after
that?


In case anyone was wondering if the FSF is genuinely interested in 
feedback - I went and made some comments on the draft, and they appear 
to no longer be there a few days later.  Thanks for the invitation Alex.



Bernd

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