Alan Pope wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 23, 2007 at 02:24:19PM +0000, alan c wrote:
>> You might like to be aware of GPL issues, even though the product is
>> such a Wow:
>>
>
> Is Cliff a Lawyer? I see very little evidence on that site of a GPL
> violation, just his hearsay. I would rather a more comprehensive technical
> summary were posted than the kind of handwaving that he's done.
extract from the blog:
===================================
Through disassembly (I can do that, the software is GPL'd), it appears
that ASUS has extensively modified the asus_acpi kernel module from
Linux 2.6.21.4, so that it now works with the eee's hardware. This
would be good except that
* They appear to have stripped out all attribution. (Kernel
modules contain information about the module name, version, and
author. This has been removed.)
* They appear to have attempted to hide what they were doing.
(All references to "asus_acpi" have been removed, but other
identifying features remain.)
* They are not distributing their modified sources, or even a patch
===================================
It seems to me that he has looked carefully and failed to find the
sources. Should he be a lawyer for that?
They simply do not appear to be complying with the GPL, and he recalls
a previous occasion (IPTables) when they needed a legal action 'reminder'.
I don't see such a blog as doing the community badly, rather the
opposite. FOSS is not well understood outside the community and
freedoms are hard won, and not necessarily convenient to maintain.
--
alan cocks
Kubuntu user#10391
