[Debian-eeepc-devel] Bug#521553: rt2860 driver contains non-free firmware

[Damyan Ivanov]

Package: linux-2.6
Version: 2.6.29
Severity: serious

[cc-ed to debian-eeepc-devel as the affected network controller is uused in
several eeepc models]

Hi,

The file drivers/staging/rt2860/common/firmware.h contains the following
text:

/*
 Copyright (c) 2007, Ralink Technology Corporation
 All rights reserved.

 Redistribution.  Redistribution and use in binary form, without
 modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
 met:

        * Redistributions must reproduce the above copyright notice and the
        following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials
        provided with the distribution.
        * Neither the name of Ralink Technology Corporation nor the names of its
        suppliers may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this
        software without specific prior written permission.
        * No reverse engineering, decompilation, or disassembly of this software
        is permitted.

 Limited patent license. Ralink Technology Corporation grants a world-wide,
 royalty-free, non-exclusive license under patents it now or hereafter
 owns or controls to make, have made, use, import, offer to sell and
 sell ("Utilize") this software, but solely to the extent that any
 such patent is necessary to Utilize the software alone, or in
 combination with an operating system licensed under an approved Open
 Source license as listed by the Open Source Initiative at
 http://opensource.org/licenses.  The patent license shall not apply to
 any other combinations which include this software.  No hardware per
 se is licensed hereunder.

 DISCLAIMER.  THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND
 CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING,
 BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
 COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
 INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING,
 BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS
 OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND
 ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR
 TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE
 USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
 DAMAGE.
*/
/* AUTO GEN PLEASE DO NOT MODIFY IT */

(followed by a big array of bytes)

This fails several of the DFSG:

Redistribution is allowed only without modification. This breaks the "Derived
Works" requirement.

"No reverse engineering, decompilation, or disassembly of this software is
permitted." breaks the "No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor"
requirement.

There is no source code so it breaks the "Source Code" requirement. The byte
array is just a C equivalent of the binary image. It is explicitly prohibited
to decompile the image, suggesting it is a result of some compilation from e.g.
some source code (which is not provided).


Thanks,
    dam


-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'stable'), (450, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.29-1-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=bg_BG.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=bg_BG.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash