Re: [ECOS] RedBoot banner

[Jonathan Larmour <jifl at eCosCentric dot com>]

Chris Zimman wrote:
>> Under section 2(c) of the GPL it isn't really an option:
>>
>>     c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
>>     when run, you must cause it, when started running for such
>>     interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an
>>     announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a
>>     notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide
>>     a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under
>>     these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this
>>     License.  (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but
>>     does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on
>>     the Program is not required to print an announcement.)
>>
>> And of course RedBoot does print that sort of announcement (copyrights)
>> and has done from the outset. It's been strictly incorrect for RedBoot not
>> to comply with 2(c) for as long as it has (since the RHEPL->GPL+exception
>> switch). It does seem an appropriate thing for RedBoot to say too.
> 
> I don't understand your read of this.  By my read, section 2 deals with
> modified software.  
> This is saying that if a program is a derivative of a program that does print
> license info, then it's required to do so as well.
> Given that Redboot isn't really a derivative of anything that (AFAIK) does
> so, I don't understand how it's required to.

RedBoot has always printed copyright info, which is very much the same sort
of thing. And we have certainly modified it since it's first public release.

>> Of course due to the exception at the end, I would not expect an eCos
>> user's own interactive application (not related to RedBoot) to do the
>> same as RedBoot.
> 
> Given that Redboot is just eCos w/o interrupts enabled and some bits of menu
> around it, I don't understand how you can support this is one case and not
> the other.

RedBoot already had a startup banner. U-boot has never had one I believe.

Maybe it might have been different if RedBoot hadn't had such a banner at
the point it was GPL'd.

I don't think it's a bad thing for users to be aware of RedBoot's licence
anyway. If anyone was worried about read-only data (not RAM) footprint,
there are probably many other areas of memory footprint that deserve
attention, and you probably wouldn't want to use something as
all-encompassing as RedBoot in any case ;).

Jifl
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