[Prism54-devel] Re: [Prism54 on Knoppix?] Re: Kontaktformular [QK]

[Klaus Knopper]

Hi, it's me again,

I will most likely include the prism54 driver in Knoppix 3.4 (CeBit
release), possibly also in the upcoming 3.3 update. Just a few more
questions:

1. Is there a dpkg-buildpackage'able debian source package available yet for
 1.1 the GPL portion (i.e. the kernel modules itself)
 1.2 the (yet unclear to me licensed) firmware files for /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware?

If no, I can still make these packages from your source tarballs. Just
want to avoid duplicate work.

On Mon, Jan 19, 2004 at 10:47:12PM -0500, Luis R. Rodriguez wrote:
> Prism54 drivers source code is 100% GPL. We just recently completed that
> aspect of the licence. There is an exception and that is of the firmware.
> The license agreements for the firmware are the same ones you get for the
> equivalent windows driver. We provide the firmware on our website and
> not as part of our package. The firmware is available on our website as a
> means of making things easier for Linux users.

2. What exactly does the "license agreements for the firmware are the
same ones you get for the equivalent windows driver" say? Is the binary
driver freely distributable for non-commercial as well as commercial
use? Where can I find this license agreement for inclusion in
an appropriate "non-free" debian package?

> The latest linux-hotplug package is required since it has firmare.agent.
> Currently Debian unstable has it and most distributions are picking it up
> (a lot of them, thanks to us ;).

Knoppix uses the hotplug package from Debian/unstable for exactly this
reason.

> Our inclusion to the Linux Kernel is just a matter of time. Should you
> choose to include the driver in a Knoppix release we'll push so we get a
> test release out that is decent for usage.

Knoppix is "experimental software" anyways, you do not have to push
anything special. But if you could point me at a "more or less stable
and recommended" snapshot if the driver (and firmware files), it would
make things easier for me because I have to answer less complaints from
end users. ;-)

Regards
-Klaus Knopper