Dear swami91,
In message 1406164120148-184818.post@n7.nabble.com you wrote:
- Is it ok if we implement uboot commands that would call into the
standalone application API without violating GPL terms of u-boot? The command returns to the command line after execution. The arguments are passed from the uboot command line.
No. A standalone application can use U-Boot services only through the exported interface (call table), which is intentionally limited.
- How to pass the authentication key from the standalone application to
u-boot without violating the GPL license other than hard coding the address of the key location in the u-boot? Does this hardcoding violate the GPL terms of u-boot?
Even if you hard-code addresses in the U-Boot image you would be violating the GPL. A non-GPL standalone application must be really what the name suggests: standalone. It gets only a very narrow, stricltly limited set of services - just enough to ger some early initialization and debugging done. All the rest, including drivers and services, mut be re-implemented in your own proprietary image.
- Is it ok to load the application from within the uboot into RAM and then
let the u-boot commands executed on it?
U-Boot can start your application using the "go" command. But your non-GPL standalone program cannot call any commands from U-Boot. That would be a violation of the GPL.
Best regards,
Wolfgang Denk