[Pkg-virtualbox-devel] Bug#691148: Bug#691148: Bug#691148: Bug#691148: Please package virtualbox 4.2.2

Frank Mehnert frank.mehnert at oracle.com
Fri Nov 16 15:53:08 UTC 2012


On Friday 16 November 2012 16:28:01 Felix Geyer wrote:
> On 14.11.2012 15:30, Michael Meskes wrote:
> > On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 10:56:50AM +0100, Felix Geyer wrote:
> >> When you want to modify the BIOS you change the code in the files of the
> >> first variant so only that is considered the source code of the BIOS.
> > 
> > Well, you can change the assembler file directly. I wonder what happened
> > if we just remove the OpenWatcom source files from the tarball?
> 
> Removing the Open Watcom source files would be a GPL violation unless
> upstream explicitly adds a license to the generated assembler files.

I think the generated assembler files contain all necessary copyright
headers.

> Anyway I fail to see how removing free source code files could change
> anything in terms of DFSG-freeness of the whole thing.
> 
> > Or if the developers hadn't told us but instead said they created the
> > assembler file by hand?
> 
> It's pretty hard to believe that someone could write and maintain 15,000
> lines of assembler code without a single comment.

It's surely hard but not impossible. But I wouldn't continue arguing
here.

> >> That is a problem because it's impossible to modify the BIOS (e.g. by
> >> adding a distro patch) without someone running Open Watcom.
> > 
> > Why's that? We can change assembler source files, can't we?
> 
> Sure, you can modify those assembler files but they are just a
> post-processed compiler output. That means in practice you can't modify it
> in a meaningful way.
> In fact the files say "Auto Generated source file. Do not edit." ;-)
> For example we would be unable to cherry-pick a BIOS fix from trunk.
> 
> > I really wonder if we're trying to be more catholic than the pope here.
> 
> I don't think so because where does it end?
> With the same argument you could declare every disassembled binary that is
> built from high level language code as source code.

Again, we don't have a choice. If you cannot live with that change
I regret that.

Frank
-- 
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