hello Matt,
I bought a Cadillac XTS with the Cue infotainment System
(http://www.cadillac.com/cadillac-cue.html) and on the "Open Source
Software" screen is says there is GNU GPL licensed code. I emailed
Cadillac and was asked to call the Infotainment helpline, who said
that it was proprietary but the dealership might have it. Needless to
say the dealer has no idea!
Not surprising: often people inside companies are not well informed (let
alone resellers like the car dealer). This does not mean that the
company is not GPL compliant of course.
Any recommendations on where to start?
So the question is first whether or not there actually is GPL code
inside. For this you would need access to the binaries that are shipped
in the car. I guess that with an IVI unit in the car obtaining these
binaries is easier said than done since getting access to the system
(serial port, network access, sniffing OTA update from the network,
etc.) is not trivial.
After obtaining enough proof there are a few things to check, like:
* is there corresponding source code on a CD/DVD that came with the car, or:
* is there a written offer for the source code in the menu that you
mentioned?
If there is a written offer, follow instructions in it. If this route
fails there are several things you can do, like informing a copyright
holder who could then take legal action. I think that the cost of a test
purchase might be a bit of a barrier, but you never know and it could be
an interesting case.
Another way to do it is to use a more informal channel. Cadillac is made
by GM, who are a member of the GenIVI Alliance. GenIVI has a legal
working group and I suppose they could help get the right contacts
inside GM. I have good contacts with the GenIVI legal working group and
happy to help out there.
warm regards,
armijn
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected] || http://www.gpl-violations.org/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
