heci: a new driver for review and testing

[Carlos A. M. dos Santos]

On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 9:34 PM, Mike Meyer <mwm at mired.org> wrote:
> On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:46:20 -0300
> "Carlos A. M. dos Santos" <unixmania at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 2:12 PM, Andriy Gapon <avg at icyb.net.ua> wrote:
>>
>> > BTW, can/may I drop "alternatively GPL" wording from License block of the files I
>> > borrowed from Intel? I.e. can a dual BSD+GPL licensed file be turned into BSD-only?
>>
>> If Intel is the copyright owner then you can not change the license
>> without their permission.
>
> True. But he *has* their permission. They list the requirements for
> use and redistribution in the license block in question:
>
>  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
>  * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
>  * are met:
>  * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
>  *    notice, this list of conditions, and the following disclaimer,
>  *    without modification.
>  * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce at minimum a disclaimer
>  *    substantially similar to the "NO WARRANTY" disclaimer below
>  *    ("Disclaimer") and any redistribution must be conditioned upon
>  *    including a substantially similar Disclaimer requirement for further
>  *    binary redistribution.
>  * 3. Neither the names of the above-listed copyright holders nor the names
>  *    of any contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
>  *    from this software without specific prior written permission.
>
> I don't see anything there about retaining the ability to choose an
> alternative license. The paragraph in question says that people can
> *choose* to distribute it under the GPLv2, not that it *is* being
> distributed under the GPLv2.

Conversely, I don't see anything there explicitly *allowing* somebody
to remove that paragraph so I'd keep it unless I had express clearance
from Intel. Making assumptions can be dangerous, especially when
dealing with large corporations. That's the main lesson I've learned
after several years dealing with such matters.

I don't want to make this discussion longer than necessary, so I stop here.

-- 
My preferred quotation of Robert Louis Stevenson is "You cannot
make an omelette without breaking eggs". Not because I like the
omelettes, but because I like the sound of eggs being broken.