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Subject: Re: mcuelenaere: r20055 - in trunk/firmware: drivers export target/arm/tcc780x/cowond2 target/mips/ingenic_jz47xx/onda_vx747

Re: mcuelenaere: r20055 - in trunk/firmware: drivers export target/arm/tcc780x/cowond2 target/mips/ingenic_jz47xx/onda_vx747

From: Maurus Cuelenaere <mcuelenaere_at_gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:26:04 +0100

This is a response from Carlos E. Vidales:

Hello.
>
> I'm flattered that you would include my touch screen code in your mp3
> player firmware set. Who knows, one day I may buy an mp3 that uses my code
> to calibrate the screen. Sweet!
>
> I assume that the point that Mr. Chapman noted regarding the GPL is this
> (from the GNU General Public License<http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html>):
> "You may charge any price or no price for each copy that you convey..."
> I've always found that statement rather contradictory, but there is no point
> in arguing for or against it. (I also read the IRC log, by the way. Good
> discussion.)
>
> There is one practical consideration why I cannot re-release the code: I do
> not maintain a ftp site that I control and where I can place newer versions
> of the code, even if only the comments change. That I am aware of, the only
> public place where it exists (prior to your including it in the Rockbox
> distribution) is the ftp.embedded.com site. It exists just as it was
> provided to complement the touch screen calibration article published in the
> printed version of the magazine back in 2002. It is a historical archive.
>
> A second reason for not changing the terms of distribution is personal: I
> did intend for the code to be maximally distributed and nothing gets around
> better than when it is free. I considered that perhaps companies and
> individuals may want to charge a nominal fee or royalty for distributing it
> (and it does appear from e-mail that I have received since 2002 that the
> code is popular), but if they will make money for distributing the code, I
> would want to receive a portion of those profits. It would only be fair.
> As you can imagine, that is not be practical either. Thus, I opted to make
> the code available as it is with God's grace: it is free and not for sale;
> just come get it.
>
> Let me make something very clear, however: I do not object if individuals
> and companies charge for maintaining and adapting the code for specific
> purposes. Time and effort spend to adapt and maintain the code is your time
> and effort, and I would not presume to make a claim over it. Just don't
> sell the code. In my mind, your distributing the code with the Rockbox
> satisfies my original intention. I assume that you business model is
> "charge for the effort to integrate the code and make it available as a set,
> and then charge for support and maintenance." But you do not claim
> ownership of the code.
>
> What to do? I am not a legal expert, I sympathize with your needs and
> request, I would be disappointed to see the code ripped out of your
> distribution, but I do not know if there is a practical way to satisfy the
> need. I am open to your suggestions.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Carlos
>
> P.S.: Yes, you could re-write the code as Llorean suggested in the IRC, it
> is just very unlikely that it will end up being very different. I have
> written several versions of the code staring in ~1997, and they all ended up
> looking pretty much the same, except for the order of computations and the
> names of variables. I settled on this code version because it is the
> cleanest and easiest to understand. The principles used to base the
> calibration seem rather immutable; the math necessarily follows.
>

As the main problem was his license being incompatible with GPL, this'll
probably end up in me rewriting the code.

Regards,
Cuelenaere Maurus
Received on 2009-02-22

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