Hello, I have obtained a system running redboot, without any sources for redboot. Since I am not sure whether I am entitled to the source code, I will not disclose the vendor for now.
The redboot itself claims to be version 0.9; also, it claims to be a certified release. This could mean that this was a pre-gpl redboot, but the system is quite recent, and the redboot was built in 2009. Also, the redhat copyright header goes until 2004. Also, strings yields these lines: Can't read ELF header Only absolute ELF images supported Short data reading ELF file *** Abort! Attempt to load ELF data to address: %p which is not in RAM Can't load ELF file - program headers out of order Can't read ELF program header Image is not ELF, skipping ELF parsing... Only absolute ELF images supported *** Abort! Attempt to load ELF data to address: %p which is not in RAM Short data reading ELF file which seems to indicate that this at least contains code from redboot 2.0 or later. My question now is: could this still be licensed under an other license, as the 2.0 sources of redboot state that "alternative licenses for eCos may be arranged by contacting RedHat, Inc.", or does this have to be GPL, and therefore should I have access to the source code? Best Regards, Jonas Gorski P.S: I did try to contact the vendor by email, but they did not respond. Also they stated publically that they would not release the source code of their boot loaders. -- Before posting, please read the FAQ: http://ecos.sourceware.org/fom/ecos and search the list archive: http://ecos.sourceware.org/ml/ecos-discuss