In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> you wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 07, 2008 at 04:53:14PM +0200, Wolfgang Denk wrote:
> > I support this, but then we should *always* print this message, not
> > only "when it starts in an interactive mode" (or some guys could try
> > to get away by disabling interactive mode).
>
> Such a restriction is (fortunately) not enforcable by the license, which
It may not be enforcable by the license, but bu the Copyright holders
of the code.
> only covers interactive interfaces. Otherwise, it would make u-boot useless
> for environments where interactive mode would interfere with other uses of
> the serial port (or when no suitable device exists).
Of course it must not interfere with such situations. We have
standard ways to silence console output, and I did not mean to mess
with these. But if there is console output, a "GPL" message would
probably be a Good Thing.
> Personally, I'd rather stay far away from invoking any clauses of a
> non-changeable license that dictate technical decisions such as which bytes
> to include in the final image.
The GPL does not dictate anything - you have always the freedom to
write anything from scratch or buy the source code for any proprie-
tary boot loader that comes under another license. But U-Boot *is*
licensed under GPL, and this is what makes it strong. Over the years,
and spending more and more time on stupid email discussions with
companies who think they can ignore a "free" license (while being
empatic with their own closed source stuff), I came to beliving that
a clearly visible label "This box runs Free Software" is a really,
really good idea.
Best regards,
Wolfgang Denk
--
DENX Software Engineering GmbH, MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not cer-
tain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
-- Albert Einstein
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