In message 20080707183012.GB17430@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