[U-Boot-Users] [PATCH] add 'license' command to u-boot commandline

[Wolfgang Denk]

In message <20080707183012.GB17430 at loki.buserror.net> you wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 07, 2008 at 04:53:14PM +0200, Wolfgang Denk wrote:
> > I support this, but then we should *always* print this  message,  not
> > only  "when it starts in an interactive mode" (or some guys could try
> > to get away by disabling interactive mode).
> 
> Such a restriction is (fortunately) not enforcable by the license, which

It may not be enforcable by the license, but bu the Copyright holders
of the code.

> only covers interactive interfaces.  Otherwise, it would make u-boot useless
> for environments where interactive mode would interfere with other uses of
> the serial port (or when no suitable device exists).

Of course it  must  not  interfere  with  such  situations.  We  have
standard  ways  to silence console output, and I did not mean to mess
with these. But if there is console output,  a  "GPL"  message  would
probably be a Good Thing.

> Personally, I'd rather stay far away from invoking any clauses of a
> non-changeable license that dictate technical decisions such as which bytes
> to include in the final image.

The GPL does not dictate anything - you have always  the  freedom  to
write  anything  from scratch or buy the source code for any proprie-
tary boot loader that comes under another license.  But  U-Boot  *is*
licensed under GPL, and this is what makes it strong. Over the years,
and  spending  more  and  more  time on stupid email discussions with
companies who think they can ignore a  "free"  license  (while  being
empatic  with their own closed source stuff), I came to beliving that
a clearly visible label "This box runs Free Software"  is  a  really,
really good idea.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

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