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Re: Results of "downloading compressed program images" request



rj@eli.elilabs.com said:
> Not true.  You have been listening to the lawyaers, when they should
> retain your services as expert and listen to you!  They know law, but
> they do not know the technology.  You must educate them in the
> technology so they can advise you as to how the law might be applied
> to it, and what your best course of action should be.

I said it was pushing the envelope, but not outside it. Yes I agree that
strictly speaking it is legitimate to do as you say, but as Joel pointed
out it is not exactly practical in the litigious society we live in.

rj@eli.elilabs.com said:
> The prefered form of the work means the form prefered by "those
> skilled in the art", which means other software engineers, not
> necessarily the end user.

So what does that mean if I do not also make available schematics available
for the whole product? My experience (and I am reasonably skilled in the
art) is that software is useless without some knowledge of the hardware
running it. So am I complying with the GPL even though I am not supplying
enough information for another programmer to make informed changes?

With a standard computer, i.e. a UNIX workstation, I can answer this
question, but it is not at all clear where this boundary lies when I
write a program for X Motor Inc.'s spark control computer. Frankly, the
source code is not in general something that even another programmer can
make sense of without access to applicable details of the hardware.
A lot of this is implicit when talking about UNIX programs or PC software.

OK so maybe this is a big maybe, but neither Joel nor I are going to be
the poor souls who establish the requisite case law for the rest of you.

So forget all this. I provide all the software for my VCR board. This board
has a special 68ec0X0 with special VCR controls and a mask ROM on a chip.
You get a floppy with the unit, and enough information that you can do whatever
to damn well please. But, I will not sell you the chip with the mask and
the 68x00 core because I need all of them. Besides, you really expect me
to make chips for you with the masks you desire? Hah! So am I complying
with the GPL? Maybe, maybe not. You tell me.

I am a proponent of the GPL process, I have configured emacs to put the
GPL notice in every new C/C++ file I create. However, there are limits.

Incidentally, I don't know any lawyers personally. I don't listen to them
because they don't talk to me.

-- 
Steve Williams
steve@icarus.com
steve@picturel.com

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep.  But I have promises to keep,
And lines to code before I sleep, And lines to code before I sleep."