Porting RTL8723AU
https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8723au I don't write drivers yet, and only now am beginning to tinker with the kernel. The repo has a linux (sic) driver for the dreaded wifi+BT RTL8723AU-VAS (wifi only, BT is the same address + _bt) card found in the Lenovo Yoga 13 and others. If someone can help me port the driver, that'd be wonderful.
Re: Porting RTL8723AU
On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 7:30 PM, Jean Lucas horsef...@lavabit.com wrote: https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8723au I don't write drivers yet, and only now am beginning to tinker with the kernel. The repo has a linux (sic) driver for the dreaded wifi+BT RTL8723AU-VAS (wifi only, BT is the same address + _bt) card found in the Lenovo Yoga 13 and others. If someone can help me port the driver, that'd be wonderful. You didn't specify the license
Re: Porting RTL8723AU
On 05/20/2013 09:58 AM, Baurzhan Muftakhidinov wrote: On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 7:30 PM, Jean Lucas horsef...@lavabit.com wrote: https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8723au I don't write drivers yet, and only now am beginning to tinker with the kernel. The repo has a linux (sic) driver for the dreaded wifi+BT RTL8723AU-VAS (wifi only, BT is the same address + _bt) card found in the Lenovo Yoga 13 and others. If someone can help me port the driver, that'd be wonderful. You didn't specify the license GPLv2. One for all, all for one. P.S. Sorry Baurzhan, forgot to CC.
Re: Porting RTL8723AU
On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 8:49 AM, Jean Lucas horsef...@lavabit.com wrote: On 05/20/2013 09:58 AM, Baurzhan Muftakhidinov wrote: ... You didn't specify the license GPLv2. One for all, all for one.GNU General Public License, GPL, LGPL, copyleft, etc. You should carefully review http://www.openbsd.org/policy.html To quote from it: -- The GNU Public License and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code. While this may be a noble strategy in terms of software sharing, it is a condition that is typically unacceptable for commercial use of software. As a consequence, software bound by the GPL terms can not be included in the kernel or runtime of OpenBSD, though software subject to GPL terms may be included as development tools or as part of the system that are optional as long as such use does not result in OpenBSD as a whole becoming subject to the GPL terms. it will not become an official part of OpenBSD as long as it has that license. Philip Guenther
Re: Porting RTL8723AU
Is one able to strip the GPL from a repo? In the case of this repo, would the driver have to be completely reconstructed/reimplemented in the case the GPL could not be stripped? As far as the end result goes, be that engineering a new driver or if one can strip the GPL from the existing repo, the new driver would/could be BSD licensed, if that decision were up to me. Philip Guenther guent...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 8:49 AM, Jean Lucas horsef...@lavabit.com wrote: On 05/20/2013 09:58 AM, Baurzhan Muftakhidinov wrote: ... You didn't specify the license GPLv2. One for all, all for one.GNU General Public License, GPL, LGPL, copyleft, etc. You should carefully review http://www.openbsd.org/policy.html To quote from it: -- The GNU Public License and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code. While this may be a noble strategy in terms of software sharing, it is a condition that is typically unacceptable for commercial use of software. As a consequence, software bound by the GPL terms can not be included in the kernel or runtime of OpenBSD, though software subject to GPL terms may be included as development tools or as part of the system that are optional as long as such use does not result in OpenBSD as a whole becoming subject to the GPL terms. -- So, if you decide to license your driver under any version of the GPL, it will not become an official part of OpenBSD as long as it has that license. Philip Guenther
Re: Porting RTL8723AU
On 5/20/2013 2:14 PM, Jean Lucas wrote: Is one able to strip the GPL from a repo? In the case of this repo, would the driver have to be completely reconstructed/reimplemented in the case the GPL could not be stripped? As far as the end result goes, be that engineering a new driver or if one can strip the GPL from the existing repo, the new driver would/could be BSD licensed, if that decision were up to me. What does that mean strip the GPL from a repo? As in, hey, I know you licensed this driver under the GPL but I don't care I'm gonna relicense it, in violation of the GPL? Philip Guenther guent...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 8:49 AM, Jean Lucas horsef...@lavabit.com wrote: On 05/20/2013 09:58 AM, Baurzhan Muftakhidinov wrote: ... You didn't specify the license GPLv2. One for all, all for one.GNU General Public License, GPL, LGPL, copyleft, etc. You should carefully review http://www.openbsd.org/policy.html To quote from it: -- The GNU Public License and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code. While this may be a noble strategy in terms of software sharing, it is a condition that is typically unacceptable for commercial use of software. As a consequence, software bound by the GPL terms can not be included in the kernel or runtime of OpenBSD, though software subject to GPL terms may be included as development tools or as part of the system that are optional as long as such use does not result in OpenBSD as a whole becoming subject to the GPL terms. -- So, if you decide to license your driver under any version of the GPL, it will not become an official part of OpenBSD as long as it has that license. Philip Guenther
Re: Porting RTL8723AU
Realtek has no official software distribution on their site of a RTL8723 driver. As far as the repo goes, it was highly likely taken from a beta-grade (at best) Dropbox'ed linux driver posted on ubuntu sites after popular demand. The fact that, in the repo, pieces of code with text saying Copyright Realtek and GPLv2, means that it could not be ported? Reiterating, could the GPLv2 bits be removed when the driver is ported to BSD with a valid license? Jean Lucas horsef...@lavabit.com wrote: Is one able to strip the GPL from a repo? In the case of this repo, would the driver have to be completely reconstructed/reimplemented in the case the GPL could not be stripped? As far as the end result goes, be that engineering a new driver or if one can strip the GPL from the existing repo, the new driver would/could be BSD licensed, if that decision were up to me.
Re: Porting RTL8723AU
On 5/20/2013 2:25 PM, Jean Lucas wrote: Realtek has no official software distribution on their site of a RTL8723 driver. As far as the repo goes, it was highly likely taken from a beta-grade (at best) Dropbox'ed linux driver posted on ubuntu sites after popular demand. The fact that, in the repo, pieces of code with text saying Copyright Realtek and GPLv2, means that it could not be ported? Reiterating, could the GPLv2 bits be removed when the driver is ported to BSD with a valid license? Pieces of code? Did you even look at this repo? Every single file has a big header saying it is licensed GPLv2 only. You clearly have not read and understood the GPL or our policy page that Philip was nice enough to link you.
Re: Porting RTL8723AU
In conclusion, reverse engineering is the only option for support. Since using this repo to port/construct a new driver would constitute a derivative work, and stripping licenses is bad, one has to reinvent the wheel. Or get realtek to issue a BSD-licensed driver. Brian Callahan bcal...@devio.us wrote: On 5/20/2013 2:14 PM, Jean Lucas wrote: Is one able to strip the GPL from a repo? In the case of this repo, would the driver have to be completely reconstructed/reimplemented in the case the GPL could not be stripped? As far as the end result goes, be that engineering a new driver or if one can strip the GPL from the existing repo, the new driver would/could be BSD licensed, if that decision were up to me. What does that mean strip the GPL from a repo? As in, hey, I know you licensed this driver under the GPL but I don't care I'm gonna relicense it, in violation of the GPL? Philip Guenther guent...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 8:49 AM, Jean Lucas horsef...@lavabit.com wrote: On 05/20/2013 09:58 AM, Baurzhan Muftakhidinov wrote: ... You didn't specify the license GPLv2. One for all, all for one.GNU General Public License, GPL, LGPL, copyleft, etc. You should carefully review http://www.openbsd.org/policy.html To quote from it: -- The GNU Public License and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code. While this may be a noble strategy in terms of software sharing, it is a condition that is typically unacceptable for commercial use of software. As a consequence, software bound by the GPL terms can not be included in the kernel or runtime of OpenBSD, though software subject to GPL terms may be included as development tools or as part of the system that are optional as long as such use does not result in OpenBSD as a whole becoming subject to the GPL terms. -- So, if you decide to license your driver under any version of the GPL, it will not become an official part of OpenBSD as long as it has that license. Philip Guenther
Re: Porting RTL8723AU
In conclusion, reverse engineering is the only option for support. Not really. You could ask Realtek for documentation; if they will release it, someone will pick it up and will code a new driver or adapt an old one if it is of high demand.
Re: Porting RTL8723AU
On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 02:36:16PM -0400, Jean Lucas wrote: In conclusion, reverse engineering is the only option for support. Since using this repo to port/construct a new driver would constitute a derivative work, and stripping licenses is bad, one has to reinvent the wheel. Copyright covers specific expressions (implementations) of a work (a driver for this device). Copyright for one driver doesn't cover other implementations of drivers for the same device (the copyright holder would need a patent for that kind of protection). I believe it is OK to use an existing GPL driver as a documentation reference, and write a new driver from scratch based on that information. However, it is clearly not OK to copy any code from the existing driver. Device-specific data such as register offsets are facts, and facts aren't copyrightable, so data contained in the driver can be used. Porting the existing driver implies copying code from it. You could try to understand the existing driver, take notes about how it works, and then try to write a better driver for OpenBSD. Or get realtek to issue a BSD-licensed driver. Or documentation. Nothing beats documentation.
Re: Porting RTL8723AU
Great pointers. Will check out the existing urtwn driver (I believe thats the Realtek driver; the Yoga laptop has touchscreen, apm, acpi, bios/uefi issues as well just to name a few!) and see if I pick up some techniques. Will also contact realtek if they're willing to provide something and post back results whatever they may be. Cheers. Stefan Sperling s...@openbsd.org wrote: On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 02:36:16PM -0400, Jean Lucas wrote: In conclusion, reverse engineering is the only option for support. Since using this repo to port/construct a new driver would constitute a derivative work, and stripping licenses is bad, one has to reinvent the wheel. Copyright covers specific expressions (implementations) of a work (a driver for this device). Copyright for one driver doesn't cover other implementations of drivers for the same device (the copyright holder would need a patent for that kind of protection). I believe it is OK to use an existing GPL driver as a documentation reference, and write a new driver from scratch based on that information. However, it is clearly not OK to copy any code from the existing driver. Device-specific data such as register offsets are facts, and facts aren't copyrightable, so data contained in the driver can be used. Porting the existing driver implies copying code from it. You could try to understand the existing driver, take notes about how it works, and then try to write a better driver for OpenBSD. Or get realtek to issue a BSD-licensed driver. Or documentation. Nothing beats documentation.
Re: Porting RTL8723AU
On 2013-05-20, Jean Lucas horsef...@lavabit.com wrote: Or get realtek to issue a BSD-licensed driver. you clearly haven't read realtek's typical driver code ;)
