[Debian-eeepc-devel] Bug#497200: ITP: rt2860-source -- source for RT2860 wireless adapter kernel module

[Damyan Ivanov]

Package: wnpp
Severity: wishlist
Owner: Damyan Ivanov <dmn at debian.org>

* Package name    : rt2860-source
  Version         : 1.7.0.0
  Upstream Author : Ralink Tech Inc
* URL             : http://www.ralinktech.com/
* License         : GPL-2+  some binary non-free firmware
  Programming Lang: C
  Description     : source for RT2860 wireless adapter kernel module

RT2860 is a wireless adapter found particularly in the ASUS EeePC model
901 and above. The package contains the source of a Linux kernel module
for it.


There may be some licensing problems and this is why I CC debian-legal.
All the sources are licensed under GPL-2+, except one file,
include/firmware.h, which is generated from a binary blob and contains
the following notice:

/*
 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 */ 
/* AUTO GEN PLEASE DO NOT MODIFY IT */ 


UCHAR FirmwareImage [] = { 
0x02, 0x03, 0x5e, 0x02, 0x02, 0xb1, 0x22, 0x22, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x02, 0x01, 0x82, 0xff, 0xff, 
.........

I did not yet check if this code is actually linked in the GPL-2+
module, but have a bad feeling it it does. Would a compiled GPL source,
including firmware.h be even distributable?

Perhaps the module can be changed to load its firmware from external
file or even not need that nasty firmware.h (there are traces of
support to other hardware and that firmware may be for them).


-- 
    dam